Perking Up the Heart
by signelchan
Summary: A first job is always a daunting prospect, and this first job definitely wasn't anything Lissa was interested in, but with family comes standards to be held against. Did those standards have to make her first job be in a coffee shop with a strict rule-following manager and an air of romance for everyone around? Or, why baristas shouldn't fall in love with customers. [Modern AU]
1. The First Day

Lissa woke up unexpectedly, small feet hitting her repeatedly in her side as she was lying there in bed. Before she could register what was happening, she heard the sound of her phone's alarm beginning to go off, meaning that whatever rude awakening this was supposed to be, it was perfectly timed. She yawned, sitting up and stretching while turning the alarm off as she looked around the room she'd been sleeping in for the night, taking special care to note that her own feet were dangling over the edge of the bed. "Auntie Lissa, go back to sleep," she heard her niece mumble while half awake, rooting her in the reality that her awakening had come at the kicking of little Lucina. "Too early to be not sleeping."

"Sorry there, kiddo, but I can't spend all day just sleeping like you can. It's time for me to get my big-girl job and start working for a living." Reaching to ruffle her niece's already-messy hair, Lissa couldn't help but laugh at the girl's reaction to what she'd said, which was to roll over in her bed and take control of the pillow her aunt had been using moments before. "Glad to see you're so understanding, Lucy. I'll see you at breakfast, I suppose." The little girl mumbled something in her sleepy state, tossing her head even further onto the pillow. "If you even get up, that is."

Stretching a bit more, Lissa threw what was left of the blankets covering her off to the side, scooting off the bed as carefully as she could to not disturb Lucina more than she already had. "I just can't believe that, after all this time, now's when I have to start working. Seriously, couldn't Chrom just, like, keep supporting me even though I don't even live here anymore?" Her question was asked in a tone barely above a whisper, not meant for anyone to hear aside from herself. She stood up once her feet were both solidly on the ground, still looking around at the small room she'd been in for the night. "And then he makes me come _back_ the night before I start the job he's making me get…"

Her eyes landed on her niece still sleeping in the bed, Lucina wrapping herself around the pillow that was nearly half her size. "At least Lucy got a good night's sleep out of it, I suppose. And she stayed in her room all night." A long yawn escaped her, one that made her wish she could just lay back down and rejoin her niece in slumber. "Just wish I could have gotten half as good of sleep as she did, especially before today."

It wasn't that she was unaccustomed to sleeping in her niece's small bed; in fact, she had spent many weeks straight sleeping there just to keep Lucina in her room and out of her parents' hair while they tried to sleep. It was more along the lines of something weighing heavily on her mind, a worry that had manifested itself into a dream that had kept her from properly sleeping all night. As she got herself dressed and ready for the long day to come, she tried to keep her mind on the job she was about to start, but her thoughts kept drifting back to the dream, to the point that the last thing she did before she left the bedroom was write a reminder note for herself on her phone: _don't fall in love with_ _any_ _co-workers, period!_

Even with that method of trying to move past the dream, she was still dwelling on it when she went down to breakfast with her brother and his wife. It wasn't that long after she'd taken her seat at the table, looking deep in thought, that Chrom cleared his throat to ask a question to her. "Lissa, I see you're focusing hard on something. Tell me, is it the new job? Or something else that I should be aware of?"

She vaguely heard what he'd asked, but didn't respond, her mind still racing with what had kept her up most of the night. He called her name again and she caught it, snapping back to reality with a surprised shake of her head. "Oh, uh, I'm just thinking about this stupid and weird dream I had last night. You know, those kinds of dreams where bad things happen to you with people you know?"

"You tend to get those kinds of dreams a lot," Chrom said with a laugh, smiling at his sister as she rolled her eyes at him. "Well, it's true. Remember the night before you moved into your own place, and how you dreamt that you somehow got moved in with Maribelle rather than where you were meant to be? You were scared that whole day that you weren't going to be living on your own."

"Okay, to be fair, that dream was really realistic and it seemed totally plausible that Maribelle would do that sort of thing to me!" Slamming her hand down on the table before her, Lissa accidentally made a few drinks slosh out of their cups a bit, but she quickly apologized for it, wiping up what she could, before talking more about her dream. "Besides, this one was really different. It involved you having gotten me a job at a _school_ and your friends all being there and me—okay, no, I'm done talking about it. Those words are never going to come out of my mouth."

"Which one did dream-you fall in love with thi—oof." His attempted question was stopped by his wife nudging him in the arm with her elbow to get him to stop. "Okay, okay, I'll stop the questions about the dreams. Gods, Robin, it's almost as if you don't like me asking my sister about her dreams when she has them."

Looking to her saving grace with thankful eyes, Lissa knew exactly why Robin had stepped in where she had. The two of them had spent many mornings talking to one another about strange dreams they'd had, always finding comfort in knowing that someone else in the house had the same struggle. "Who it involved doesn't matter, it just matters that they're not any sort of guy that I'd ever be interested in!"

"That sure answers the question then." Getting nudged once more, Chrom's laughter came to its natural end. "Nice to know that you're not going to take the easy way out and date one of my friends. Good to see that branching out is a thing you're willing to do." He expected a third nudge, but when it didn't come, he looked to Robin in confusion. "Er, don't you usually object to me saying things like that to my 'young and impressionable' sister?"

"I do object to it, but I already touched you twice. Once more and you might think about using it against me." As Robin spoke, she moved to nudge him again but changed her course at the last second, stroking where she'd been hitting with her hand. "Besides, you're right about her being willing to branch out. Seeing someone okay with not just taking what's handed to them is always nice."

Lissa squirmed a bit in her seat, Robin's words not sitting quite right with her. "I'd be more than okay with just taking the money I get from having dead parents and all that," she admitted, not wanting to withhold that information, "but no, Chrom said I had to get a job so I'm not paying for my home with inheritance money. I don't really want a job, not where he's making me work." Now she looked to the two with a plea. "Please, let me work anywhere but there. Maybe the counseling center Emm started before she died? Ooh, or maybe wherever it is you work now, Chrom! Let me work with you!"

"Now Lissa, you know that you have to start somewhere low on the ladder, just like the rest of us." Chrom waggled a stern finger towards his sister. "The coffee shop's a great first job and you'll come to enjoy it before you know it. Emm made me work there before I worked anywhere else, and now I'm doing the same to you."

"At this rate, I think I'd prefer the dream school scenario," she muttered under her breath, being overheard by her brother, who balled up the closest piece of paper to him and threw it at her. When it bounced off the top of her head, it fell to her side, allowing for her to pick it right back up and toss it at him. They went back and forth for a moment, not saying anything as they threw the paper, but when small footsteps could be heard entering the dining area, they ceased their fun.

"Mama, Auntie Lissa woke me up today and she was not nice," Lucina whined, her voice showing how barely awake she was, even with being on her feet. "Make her go sleep not in my room!"

"I will certainly do that," Robin told her, offering the little girl a spot on her lap, which Lucina eagerly took. "I'm not entirely sure why your father insisted she sleep here last night, but if it happens again, I'll keep Lissa from being mean to you in the morning."

"Thanks, Mama." The little girl rested her head against her mother's chest, sighing contently as her mother's fingers ran through her short blue hair. "You're the bestest."

Catching a bit of the glare her brother was giving her, Lissa raised her hands in defense. "I so was not mean to her this morning! I let her go right back to sleep after my alarm went off, and that was even after she woke me up by kicking me!"

"I'm not saying that you could have been unintentionally mean, but keep in mind that Lucina is a little girl, and her idea of mean is going to be a lot different than yours." Chrom stopped the glare, reaching for the paper they'd been tossing at each other once more. "For instance, if she saw me throw something at you, she'd think it's mean, even if we know it's not. But enough of this conversation here, we've got to get going so none of us are late to work today."

Silence fell over all of them, as they looked between one another, no one asking who was supposed to be the one in charge of preparing breakfast for the group. "I was under the impression that either you were going to cook today, Chrom, or that you and Lissa were going to get something on the way to the coffee shop, and that I was just in charge of getting Lucina fed before I dropped her off," Robin finally said, taking note of how the siblings had started shooting each other accusing looks. "And based on the fact that we've spent five minutes here trying to solve this problem, I think the second option is what's going to have to happen today."

"I think you're right." Chrom's agreement came as he got up from his seat, only bending down to kiss both his wife and his daughter before he came up behind Lissa's chair and rest his arms on the top of her head. "As a proud older brother, I'm glad I get to be around for this one's first day on the job. Even if, ahem, I don't work there any longer."

"Which is why I'm so confused about how you got me the job." Lissa pushed his arms off of her and stood up herself, barely coming to her brother's shoulder as she tried staring him down. "Seriously, why can't I work where you work now? It's got to be a whole lot better than working somewhere with food and drinks and rude people!"

"I'll have you know that the job is a lot more than that. You'll find in due time that what you do there will shape things to come." Propping one of his arms on his sister's head once more, Chrom laughed. "Why, don't you know that if it wasn't for working in that place, Robin and I never would have met? Can you imagine what my life would be like without her?"

"Either you'd be trapped in a loveless marriage or you'd have died from your own stupidity," Robin answered, knowing that he'd been looking for some sappy answer that he wasn't going to get from her. While his face turned red and he sputtered to try and come up with a response, Lissa laughed so hard that she doubled over, her hands gripping her legs to keep her standing as she laughed. "Nice to see that your sister agrees with me."

"Yes, sure, it's lovely. Now why don't we just get going?" Still not having come up with a clever response, Chrom's reaction was to leave as fast as he could, something made difficult by just how hard Lissa was laughing at what had been said. She was snorting and choking on her own giggles, to the point that Chrom had to nearly drag her along with him; she didn't calm down until they were already most of the way into town, and even then, every time he would try to talk to her, she would start laughing once more at how he'd been put in his place by his wife.

"Lissa, please, stop laughing for five seconds so we can talk about this job," he pleaded, listening to his sister snort mid-laugh once more. "You're going to walk in there and Cordelia is going to regret listening to me about hiring you when she sees that you can't control yourself when you hear something that was, admittedly, not that funny."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Chrom, because that was hilarious." Stifling another giggle with her hand, Lissa tried to calm herself the best she could. "Or maybe it's me being tired that's making this so funny. I haven't not-slept like that in ages."

Now it was Chrom's turn to laugh. "Except you slept well enough to dream about romancing one of my friends. Again. Let's not have you actually act on that though, please and thank you. The last thing I need in my life is to have you tagging along on group date nights, given that all my friends are…" His words trailed into inaudible mutters that she wanted to ask him to repeat, but she knew he wouldn't. He shook his head and resumed speaking, leaving the conclusion of that point lost to the ages. "What I'm trying to say is, Lissa, just because your first job is where my first job is, you don't have to keep up the 'being like me' thing any further than that."

"Trust me, I don't want to keep it up. I've got goals and staying working in a coffee shop for the rest of ever isn't going to cut it." She clasped her hands together, put on a dreamy expression, and said in her most obnoxious voice: "I want to meet a guy and have a whirlwind romance and fall headfirst in love, and I want him to support me for all of time with his work ethic and his rugged good looks." The last few words were accompanied by giggles as she couldn't take her joking seriously any longer. "Oh gods, that was painful to actually say. Who am I, Maribelle? I just want to be happy and my own person, not someone's arm-candy lady!"

"Don't joke about that sort of thing, I honestly thought you were channeling her for a moment and I wasn't exactly thrilled with it." They were sitting outside the little shop now, the bottom-floor store in a big office building, both in various states of laughter from what had been said. Chrom was first to calm back down and to return to the matter at hand. "Now go on in there and show Cordelia and whoever else she's got working that you deserve this job for more than just being my sister."

Shooting her brother a couple finger guns, Lissa nodded. "You got it, Chrom! I'll knock her off her feet so fast that she won't know what to do with me and she'll tell me to go and get a better job!" He didn't find that funny at all, telling her to get out of his car and that he'd be back by later. "Wait, back later? What are you talking about? To come get me, right?"

In her heart, she knew that's not what he meant, but at least suggesting it to the car leaving her behind made her feel better about things. As there wasn't anything else keeping her out of the shop, minus her not wanting to actually go inside, she sucked up her pride of not having worked a day in her life thus far and stepped into the building, expecting to see every table filled and a line at the counter. She was instead greeted with absolutely no one in sight, minus a lithe redhead standing behind the counter, arms crossed over her chest and looking Lissa down with a stern expression. "You're right on time," she said, watching Lissa's every step, "and while that's a good thing, couldn't you have tried to be early on your first day?"

"I didn't know that was a requirement. Sorry for being on time, I suppose, Cordelia." She had known that the woman in charge here was a bit prickly when it came to following rules, but how should Lissa have known that she would have needed to be early? "Don't mind me asking this, but were you like this when you worked with my brother?"

There was a slight twitch to one of Cordelia's eyes as she heard the question, but she dropped her stern face and cracked a smile at the thought of working with Chrom. "No, he was in the position of power between us. When he left he gave me reins of the shop, which wasn't what I had wanted but it was a nice gesture. What a shame that I've yet to find someone to pass the position on to, but now that you're here, maybe my luck will change." She opened the latch to the door for behind the counter and Lissa came around it, seeing the shop from an employee's perspective for the first time. "The work itself is rather easy, draining at times, but easy overall."

"How can it be draining? It's just making drinks and giving neat pastries to people, isn't it?" Having only ever been on the customer side of the shop before, Lissa was in for a rude awakening when her first training shift started and she found out that a lot more went into things than what she'd expected.

For starters, she had to learn that making drinks wasn't just a magical event that a machine did all on its own. "You have to memorize the drink catalog," Cordelia told her, pulling out a large binder of different recipes that were all in use, "and don't think that just knowing the names of the drinks is suitable. You must know every ingredient in case someone wants to substitute something out, and looking in the catalog to check wastes time." After dropping the binder on the counter, a loud thud echoing through the still-empty shop, she reached for another one. "And you must also memorize the ingredients for our baked goods on display. These, however, you can always call into the back for verification on."

"Why, is there someone back there all the time?" Lissa timidly asked, suddenly very scared about what else this job was going to throw at her. "Or am I just going to be screaming into an empty kitchen like a fool?"

"There will always be someone back there, don't worry. You'll come to know our baker very well in due time, but she's not in today until this afternoon so we'll have to skip your introduction with her until later." Cordelia placed the food binder on top of the drink one and pushed them across the counter towards Lissa. "Now, back to what you must know, there are manuals on how to work each and every machine in this shop in the office, if for some reason my teaching you doesn't stick. And it might not stick."

Side-eyeing the two bulging binders with fear, Lissa swallowed down some whiny thought she'd had and gave a small nod. "Understood. Gotta memorize what's in everything and learn how to work the machines here. Sounds like it'll take some time, but I think I can get it down. When do you want me to start doing that?"

She had been expecting to be told right then, but Cordelia had other plans. "You can work on it in your down time, or you can take the binders home and work on memorizing them there. Next week, you will be tested on your mastery of the menu, so don't put this off for any reason whatsoever." Cordelia could see the look of horror in Lissa's face at that, and she laughed. "Oh, don't worry. It's actually quite easy, and if you don't get it the first time, I'll work with you until you do get it. Your brother would tell me that he took several tries to get it right, and that was with a much smaller selection of items."

"I'll try my hardest to do better than Chrom at it then, definitely." Taking no notice to how Cordelia's face lit up at the sound of Chrom's name, Lissa looked around the small area behind the counter and grew increasingly scared for what kinds of havoc she could cause back there. "But should we really be letting me back here? I don't think this is going to end well if you expect me to make something."

"That's why you're in training, you've got to learn everything before you do it. Since there's no one in here aside from us right now, how about you tell me what you'd like to drink and I'll show you how to make it?" The offer was a nice one, and although Lissa knew Cordelia was making it to teach her how to do her job, she went along with it, pointing out her normal order on the menu. "Oh that, that's a super simple thing to make. Ever worked a coffee maker at home before?"

"No, I don't think we've ever had one." Lissa paused in thought, before rescinding her statement. "Wait, we did, but one time Chrom boiled pasta in it and Robin threw it out after that. I'm pretty sure we never used it for coffee though."

"Then the first lesson we'll have today is showing you how to use a coffee maker." There was a tinge of disgust in Cordelia's voice as she spoke, something that Lissa didn't dare address. "I will go first and make your drink, then you'll imitate me and try to make the same thing for me. Fair enough?"

It was plenty fair, and Lissa knew it, but when they tried she couldn't manage to get her drink to match the one Cordelia made in any capacity. The one she got to drink tasted so good and so well-made, but every one she handed off to Cordelia was either too bitter, or had too much flavor syrup, or wasn't warm enough. "Oh man, I'm hopeless at this," she eventually said, leaning against the wall as she watched Cordelia take another sip of an incorrectly-made drink. "And I'm supposed to make people these things for money?"

"You'll get better at it in time. Everyone's first day is a bit rough." Casting aside the cup after being unable to take more than a few drops of the disgusting drink, she tapped her finger to her chin in thought of what to have her trainee do next. "Here, why don't you start on reading up on the recipe for the drink? Perhaps knowing the actual method and ingredients will be of use to you."

It was while Lissa was flipping through pages of the drink binder, sitting in the corner of the area behind the counter, that she heard the door to the shop open and several people come filing in. They were in the middle of conversation, but all of their voices sounded familiar to her ears, and although she knew she was supposed to be studying she couldn't help but look up over the counter to see who'd just come in. Of all the faces in the world to see, she wasn't expecting to see her brother's, and she gasped in shock at his appearance. "What did I tell you about me coming back by later?" he jokingly asked, waving at her. "Besides, you left your stuff at my house and I had to swing it by anyway."

"Hey now, no chatting with my new employee," Cordelia interrupted, cutting off Lissa before she could say anything. "She's hard at work trying to learn everything we've got her, and if she had even an ounce of talent in making coffee, I'd have her make your order today. But she's not quite at that point in her training, so I'll be taking care of you all today. The usual for everyone, I assume?"

"You know us all so well, Cordelia. It's almost as if we worked together for years, isn't it?" Chrom was still looking at Lissa as he spoke, even though his words were directed at the woman standing before him. "Someday I'd love to see if Lissa can handle our order, but you're right, it's not something a new hire should be doing."

"Give me a few minutes and I'll have it all ready for you then." Turning her back to the counter, Cordelia started her work on some of the various machines there, turning them on and getting them prepped for making the order she'd been tasked with. "Oh, and while I'm in the kitchen, please do not distract my trainee," she warned, stepping away from the machines to push through the door to the next part of the shop.

"Don't distract you? Does she think that's really possible? Why, you were distracted from the moment I came in, weren't you?" As Lissa nodded and stood from her seat, approaching where her brother was, he motioned for his friends to come up to talk to her as well. "Now, let me tell you a secret about working this place on mornings when we come in. You ready for this?"

She looked from him to his friends, all of whom were looking back at her with smiles on their faces. She'd known all these guys for a long time (and had admittedly dreamt about them on many occasions, that morning being the most recent time for one of them), and for them to see her in the position she was currently in felt a bit weird. "Yeah, I think I'm ready for it," she said, shifting her eyes down to the counter. "Tell me how bad it is."

"For starters, we all get the exact same thing every time. Nothing too complicated. Two black coffees and two with cream and sugar. A cup of whipped cream on the side. Four bagels. And that's it." Chrom had been using his fingers to count what he was naming off, holding up nine fingers when he was done. "Except on occasion, which is every time we come in here, we end up with _five_ bagels." He raised the last finger. "We've never once ordered or paid for five bagels, and frankly it's a bit weird that we always get that many."

"Means an extra bagel for me, which is okay by all means!" That was Stahl talking, the only one of Chrom's close friends that she wasn't also close with. He was the one who had always led to their kitchen being low on food every time he came over, which no one seemed to have a problem with because he was an entertaining fellow. "Hey, Lissa, if you take our order one of these days, do whatever it is Cordelia does and give us that extra bagel. You'd be my favorite if you did."

"Let's not talk about my sister like that, shall we?" She was sure Chrom didn't mean to sound super protective there, but then when he added on to his statement she realized his protectiveness was completely intentional. "I understand that you're in the market for a lady, but please don't make it my sister. Free food doesn't make a relationship."

Stahl looked saddened by the denial for all of a second, before he shrugged it off. "It really doesn't. Sorry for making it weird there, Lissa."

"I didn't take it as being weird, no worries!" She smiled up at him, before once again looking between the four guys standing before her. "Besides, I wouldn't ever even think of dating any of my brother's friends. You guys do your own thing and me do mine, yeah?" In her mind, she was telling herself not just that she'd dreamt about getting romantically involved with the three of Chrom's friends multiple times, but that getting with at least one, possibly two of them, in real life would never work out. She was mentally labeling them with their relationship statuses, a habit she had in regards to those guys that made her dreaming about them that much weirder.

"Lissa, you're doing the thing where you slip into daydreams mid-conversation again." She hadn't even noticed that talking had continued once she started thinking about these guys, and when she blinked back to reality she had two hands in her face, one waving rapidly and the other pretending to rub at the corner of her mouth. "You were close to starting to drool, and I had to play the role of a good older brother to put a stop to it."

"Yeah, and you were missin' out on what we were sayin', obviously!" The waving hand was retracted, but what replaced it was the wild-eyed and overly excited tanned face belonging to one sort-of best friend of her brother's. "Me and Frederick really had a good argument goin' there and you missed it!"

"I wouldn't consider what we were having an argument by any means, but it is a shame that Lissa wasn't paying attention for it, yes." Pushing the face back from being so close to Lissa's, Frederick sighed when he saw she was once again starting to drift into her thoughts. "And she's ignoring us once again. This might just be a tad too early in the morning for her to deal with certain brands of insanity that are represented here."

The door to the kitchen opened again and Cordelia came out, a bag of bagels in her hand. "What did I say about distracting my trainee?" she asked, a scolding tone to her voice. "Now she's going to not want to focus on her memorization of the menu and she'll never be able to take your order correctly."

"Give her time. She's my sister, I know she'll be able to manage learning everything quickly enough to take our order the next time we come in." Chrom pulled his hand from his sister's mouth and used it to give Cordelia a thumbs-up that she sighed at. "I'm saying that as the former manager of this place, not as a proud older brother."

"Then let her get back to what she should be doing, will you?" Cordelia set the bag on the counter and went to her coffee machines, while Lissa hung her head in shame at already being scolded for not doing what she should have been. How was she expected to not want to talk to her brother and his friends when they came in? Without another word to them, she went back to her seat in the corner and resumed going through the recipe book, while Cordelia finished their order, rang them up, and sent them on their way.

After passing Lissa's bag of things over the counter for her, Chrom and his friends left in a chorus of goodbyes; once the shop was empty again, Cordelia went back into the kitchen and left Lissa there to do her studying on her own. She felt horrible at already having ignored her manager, but at the same time, she was hopeful that Chrom's insistence that she'd do well was enough to make Cordelia forgive the transgression. "Soon we'll be getting in the normal crowd, and I expect you to watch me intently as I work," Cordelia said when she came back from the kitchen once more, her arms holding a tray of baked goods. "It's not going to be much, given how nice the weather outside is, but it'll be a bit of a rush."

"And I'll just be getting in your way, but okay, I'll watch." Lissa closed the binder, feeling like she'd learned next to nothing, and stood back up, looking on as Cordelia put her tray into the pastry case. The sight of the various bagels on the tray reminded her of what Chrom and Stahl had been talking about when they were there, but when she went to ask, the words caught in her throat. She'd already made it obvious that she was going to say something, already having Cordelia's attention, so she forced herself to ask anyway. "My brother said they order four bagels when they come in but they always get more. Is that allowed, giving free food to customers?"

"I do no such thing. Every item they receive is paid for." Flustered at the accusation, Cordelia dropped a pastry or two before turning to look at Lissa with reddened cheeks. "Don't ever ask me if I'd give your brot—er, that group of men, anything for free, because the answer is no. I would never."

"Then why do they get five bagels?" The cheeks only got redder, and Lissa knew that she was asking the hard-hitting questions. "Ooh, Cordelia, do you have a crush on my brother? Is that it?" She mumbled her answer, but the slight head-nod was enough that the words didn't matter. "He's totally married though! And, well, he doesn't even eat that extra bagel anyway so maybe you shouldn't break the rules to give it to him."

"I do not break the rules, nor would I ever over a guy." Cordelia turned her head to not let Lissa see just how bright her face had gotten, almost matching her hair in terms of color. "Your brother has always looked like he could use some extra food and so I've always provided him with extra out of my own pocket. He's never brought it up with me, but I'm not surprised he's not the one who eats it."

"Well, just saying, but Stahl totally said that if I gave him that same bonus bagel every day, I'd be his favorite, so…" Lissa moved her hands together to form a heart with them. "Maybe you should look into chatting him up sometime? I'm not saying it's a good idea, he is kind of weird and food-sexual, but he's a fun guy."

Her face going a bit back to normal, Cordelia once again turned towards Lissa, this time a bit confused. "Which one is he?" she asked, showing that she'd only ever paid attention to Chrom when he and his friends came in. "Please tell me that he's not the one that likes starting fights while on store property."

"No, that one would be Vaike. I wouldn't tell anyone to ever give him a chance, not unless they can put up with a total bonehead all the time." Lissa laughed, thinking back to just earlier in the day when he'd gotten up in her face just because he could. "I don't even know how Chrom's still friends with him, but the fact that he sort of has a girlfriend just blows my mind and I feel so bad for her."

"So then this Stahl fellow must be the one who doesn't occasionally bring a female in here with him," Cordelia concluded, noting Lissa's excited gasp at what she'd said. "What, were you unaware that the other man brings a lady with him?"

Lissa was now waving a hand frantically, trying to sort her words into order so that she could explain why she was so thrilled at hearing that. "I didn't know he'd bring her with him ever, no! That lady is my best friend in the whole world!"

"I'll keep that in mind." Immediately after speaking, Cordelia shuddered, realizing what this meant. "Lissa, you're not allowed to spend all shift talking to her if she comes in," she warned. "I work alongside my best friend and we don't talk the day away, so you cannot do the same when your friend comes to visit." Seeing Lissa open her mouth to ask an obvious question, she shut her down right away. "And no, you're not allowed to give her anything free for being your friend. Any surprise extras must be paid for by someone."

Her mouth snapped shut, right as the shop's door opened and people started coming in. Business started to pick up then, and Lissa went from talking to watching everything intently, seeing how dedicated to getting everything right Cordelia was. On occasion, when there were lulls in the flow, they'd strike up their conversation once more, talking about friends and what could and could not be done when they came in. The basic rules boiled down to no freebies and no talking when customers were present, but Cordelia framed them to seem a lot more intense than they were.

A couple of hours into the shift, another woman came running in, opened the door to get behind the counter, and tripped over her own feet as she stepped back to the workstation, hitting the floor with a loud thud. While Lissa was concerned for the person's safety, Cordelia waved it off. "That's just what Sumia does when she gets here. Every day it's the same thing, her tripping over something and coming out of it just fine." Despite there being a customer whose order she was trying to take, she stopped to help the mousey-haired woman up off the floor, going seamlessly back to her work once everyone was on their feet. "Go get to baking, Sumia, because for some reason your mini pies are selling like crazy today."

"On it!" the new woman said, pushing her way into the kitchen without paying any mind to Lissa's presence. A few minutes later, she poked her head out of the door, looking at the young blonde with a grin. "You must be Chrom's little sister, and let me be the first to tell you that we are so excited to have someone related to him working here again! Maybe this means he'll come by more often!"

"Maybe it does, yeah," Lissa replied, before Cordelia repeated her instruction about Sumia getting to work. "Wait, why's she so thrilled about me being my brother's sister? Don't tell me she likes him too!"

Cordelia hushed her, due to there being a customer still at the counter, but once she wasn't actively taking and filling orders, she answered Lissa's question. "She does like him, but trust me when I say that she's moved far past him. Still doesn't stop her from getting excited when he's brought up in conversation, I suppose."

Lissa accepted the answer, not saying anything else on the matter, and the shift continued with her watching Cordelia do all the work. As the day droned on, Lissa felt more confident in being able to do at least a basic drink order, and she asked Cordelia if she could. "If you find the order you take is too complicated, let me know and I'll step in. But I believe you can do something simple."

"Okay, so the next one that comes in, I'll take it!" Getting mentally prepared for what she'd just volunteered to do, Lissa didn't pay any attention to Cordelia's groan when the door opened and someone came in. She was just focused on the register and the counter and everything that she'd been watching get done, and her focus kept her from paying attention when a tall, dark-haired man came up before her, expecting her to take his order. She had to be gently pushed by Cordelia to look at the guy, and when she saw the unfriendly and cold face staring her down, she froze.

Not only had she just completely ignored a customer, but the guy she ignored was quite the attractive fellow.

* * *

 **A/N: I rather enjoy posting fics on characters' birthdays when those characters have prominent roles in the fic. And since today's Stahl's birthday, I wonder what that might mean for later in the story...**


	2. Dazzle

"I am so sorry about that," Lissa said in apology, bowing her head. "It's my first day here and you're my first customer and I guess I just spaced on, uh, actually doing my job, I guess. What can I get for you?"

"I don't care for your sorry words," he coldly replied, looking up at the menu. "All I want is an ice water and a plain bagel. Nothing on it." She resisted jutting her bottom lip out at how rudely he was speaking to her, but she understood why he was displeased with her. Ringing him up as fast as she could, only needing minor direction on how to do it, she took care of his simple order with relative ease, apologizing once again when she gave him what he'd paid for. "Again, don't care for your sorry words."

"Sheesh, not even a thank you for actually getting him what he'd ordered." She watched as he took a seat at one of the tables up against the shop's front windows, his eyes focused on the world outside. "Is that how most people are around here?"

"No, that's just Lon'qu for you." Cordelia leaned up against the counter, watching the man just as Lissa was. "He's a regular here, rolled in from out of town a few months ago and comes in every afternoon for his water and something from the pastry case. He'll sit over there for a while, then leave without a word. No big deal."

But it was a big deal to Lissa, as she'd royally screwed up her first actual encounter with a customer, and a regular one at that. How was she going to do this job when she couldn't even handle someone's easy order? "I guess I'll just have to dazzle him with my excellent people skills the next time he comes by, won't I?" she asked, being optimistic about there even being a next time.

"He's not exactly a fan of interacting with women, so dazzling him might be a bit harder than you'd think." Actively shooting down Lissa's hopes, Cordelia sighed where she stood, arching her back a bit to stretch. "Trust me, after having seen him as often as I have these past few months, I've learned a thing or two about him. You get that way with regulars."

"Then I'm really surprised you haven't gotten like that with my brother and his friends yet, seeing as you worked with Chrom for so long and all that." Lissa did as her manager was doing, stretching while leaning against the counter, but her eyes were still focused on that customer she'd messed up with. There was something about him that made her really want to try harder, to impress him whenever she got the chance. If she could make him smile even once while working in this place, she'd feel happier about how things went down on their initial encounter, maybe.

Noticing that Lissa was trying to mimic her, Cordelia went back to standing tall, scoping the shop for anything out of place or incorrect. "Why don't you go wipe down some tables or something, get a feel for that part of the job? I'll be here to take care of any more customers that come in, because at least we both know I'll pay attention to them."

"I'm on it, I guess," Lissa quite reluctantly said, letting herself out from behind the counter with a wet rag in hand to do as she'd been asked. There wasn't much in the way of dirty tables to be cleaned, so most of her time was spent staring at the lone customer in the store, watching as he looked anywhere but at the two ladies in there with him. She must have been staring more than she'd intended, because she had to come back to reality with the sound of Cordelia whistling at her.

Unfortunately, the sound of the whistle also attracted the man's glare, and he saw just how close Lissa was to him before he saw the rag in her hand. "What are you doing, calling me like I'm some sort of animal?" he snapped, slamming his cup down on his table. "This is by far the worst customer service I've experienced in this place yet, and that's after having drinks spilled on me and a hot tray thrown at my feet."

"I d-didn't do anything." Backing away from him slowly, Lissa nearly fell over one of the other tables, and she was so concerned with keeping herself safe that she didn't hear Cordelia come out from behind the counter. The only way she knew the redhead was coming to her rescue was when she was jumping between the two, putting a hand in front of each of them to stop everything.

"Lissa, get back to work," she said, her voice flat and unwavering. "And you, Lon'qu, that whistle was meant to tell Lissa to do just that. I was not calling for you, and I would appreciate it if you didn't intimidate my new worker like this."

He raised a finger, ready to fight what he'd just heard, but he instead sighed and grumbled something about bothersome women, leaving the shop not long after that. "I'm really sorry that I kind of made that all happen." Lissa felt ashamed for having lost focus while on the job for the second time already, and she was expecting the worst when it came to Cordelia's reaction to it. "I guess I'm just not cut out for this job at all."

"Don't say that. It's just your first day and you've got a long way to go before you're as good at this job as, say, I am." Cordelia, taking her place behind the counter once more, laughed as she watched relief overcome every inch of Lissa's face. "Like I told you though, Lon'qu is a regular and he will be back, so watch for him when you're working alone."

The relief was short-lived, as the mere thought of having to work by herself was making Lissa grimace. "I can't wait for that day," she forced herself to say, honestly not wanting to think about staying around long enough to be certified to work alone. "He's going to come in here and probably beat me to a pulp, and there's nothing I'll be able to do about it."

"Trust me, it won't happen like that. Everything will be fine the next time he shows his face around here, regardless if you're here alone or with me." Looking to the clock behind the counter, Cordelia smiled. "Say, since you've been here almost all day, how about you finish up with some more studying then get out of here for the night? I'll need you here back bright and early tomorrow for some more training."

There was a small moment where Lissa considered saying she wouldn't show up the next day, but she wasn't going to let one guy in a sour mood ruin her experience. "Yeah, I guess I'll do that. What time do you mean by 'bright and early' though? Not too early, I hope…" The smile on Cordelia's face only got slyer, not a good sign for the answer to Lissa's question, and when she finally got out of the coffee shop close to an hour later, she was definitely regretting not saying she was just going to quit. "What kind of place needs a trainee to get there before sunrise? How am I supposed to get a good night's sleep when I've got to study the menu and get up super early?"

That was just part of the job, she supposed, but it didn't sit right with her, and for the entirety of the evening, as she read over pages of the binder that she'd brought home with her, she dreaded going back in the morning. How was she going to manage to become a decent employee in a short amount of time, when her heart wasn't with the job? It wasn't going to happen, not in her mind.

But the evening came and went, as did the night, and she was walking herself down to the coffee shop from her apartment a few blocks away early the next morning, nothing but the desire to sleep on her mind. When she got to the front door, she attempted to open it and found it locked. "What kind of joke is this?" she loudly asked the sunrise on the horizon, her only companion at the early hour. "She tells me to show up early, but when I show up early to being here early, she's not here! Some manager she is!"

She stood out front for a few minutes, standing in the early summer morning as the sun came up just over the horizon, lighting up the sky and the city around her. Right at about the same time she began questioning if Cordelia was ever going to show up, she saw the figure of the other woman who worked there coming up towards her, a key in one hand and some sort of bundle attached to her chest. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" she called, waving the key frantically. "It's just been a terrible morning and I feel so bad for making you wait!"

"Why are you here and not Cordelia? I thought she was going to train me more today?" Lissa watched as Sumia came up to the front door, unlocked it, and let them both inside. While she fiddled with shutting the shop's alarm off, Lissa stared at her in shock, still waiting for an answer to the question she'd asked.

That answer didn't come until everything was disarmed and the door was re-locked, when Sumia could find the time to breathe and explain what was going on. "Cordelia wanted me to train you on how to prepare some basic things in the kitchen, because I know how to do it better than her. Call it the one thing I'm actually better than her at, heh." She scratched at the back of her head, awkwardly laughing as she did. "And then everything went completely wrong this morning before I was able to get over here, so excuse the fact that I had to bring my baby with me today. She'll be gone before we get busy, trust me."

"Are you sure she should even be here?" Looking at the unmoving bundle attached tightly to Sumia's chest, Lissa raised her eyebrows, stepping closer as she got more and more curious. "Wait, not even that, are you sure she should be tied to you like that? You totally tripped over your own feet in here yesterday, so what if you did that while she's on you?"

"Wow you're just full of questions today, aren't you?" Sumia laughed, opening the door to get behind the counter, all while backing away from the still-approaching other woman. "This is completely safe and, like I said, she's not going to be here very long today. And while I'm doing all the prep stuff and showing you the ropes, you can hold her if it would make you feel more comfortable."

Lissa's eyes lit up at the prospect of holding a small child, her hands reaching towards the bundle without her realizing she was doing it. "I'd be honored to hold your baby for you, sure!" she replied, before having her hands pushed away because she was getting too eager too quickly. "Right, I should let you hand her off to me, not me just take her."

"You're more eager to help with watching my Cynthia than you are about learning the job, aren't you?" There was so much truth to Sumia's question that Lissa didn't dare answer, instead choosing to back away a bit to let her co-worker get behind the counter and into the kitchen without her right next to her. Once they were both behind the swinging door, Sumia unwrapped the child carrier from around herself, as carefully as possible as to not disturb the child she was holding. "Here, you can take her now so I can start things," she said, once the only thing supporting the baby was her arms, and Lissa quickly stepped in to hold the small child, freeing up her mother's hands. "Thanks, Lissa! Now, even though I'm sure you're going to be plenty distracted, please try to focus on me!"

It had been maybe five seconds since she'd started holding little baby Cynthia, but there was no way in the world that Lissa was going to pay any attention to what she was being taught. Rather than listening to the rules of how to work the ovens, or proper industrial-strength microwave usage, or anything that Sumia was attempting to teach her, she was focused almost exclusively on the sleeping child she was holding. "You're so pretty," she whispered down at the baby, "and so sleepy and so cute and I just met you but I love you."

"Stop talking to my baby and pay attention, please," Sumia softly called out, knowing that if she raised her voice too much, she'd wake her child and have to deal with crying as well as the trainee not focusing. "You're probably going to be expected to do this on your own someday, and if Cordelia finds out that you—" Her words were cut short by the sound of the kitchen door swinging open and the just-mentioned redhead coming in. "—Cordelia! I thought you were going to be late today!"

"Yes, late, as in late enough that you needed to get here to start preparing things so they'd be ready by the time we open." Looking at the scene before her, with pastry-making in progress by one person and child-care happening by the other, she let out a long sigh. "Sumia, why's your baby here? You know that you're not technically supposed to have her in here."

"I know, but I didn't have any other choice today! She won't be here long, I promise!" Clasping her hands in front of her as if she was begging to be allowed to keep her child in the kitchen, Sumia stepped forward and instantly ran right into one of the ovens in between her and Cordelia. She fell into it, earning herself a stifled laugh from Cordelia and a concerned gasp from Lissa. "I'm all right, don't worry!" she assured everyone, picking herself up off the top of the oven. "See, totally fine!"

"And that's why she's not supposed to be in here, in case that happened." Cordelia looked to Lissa, who was holding the still-sleeping baby, and accepted the situation for what it was. "But I guess, since you took the initiative to pass her off to someone who won't fall over nothing, she's allowed to stay until her father comes to get her. At least, that's who I assume is going to get her from here."

Sumia nodded, still straightening her clothing from her little tumble. "Yes, he's going to come get her once he wakes up. I wasn't going to wake him up before I got here, no way, and he can't be in charge of a baby when he's asleep, so she just had to come with."

"I'm fine with playing babysitter until she gets picked up," Lissa added, her eyes focused on the sleeping baby's face. "I'm used to watching kids until someone comes to get them, so this isn't anything new for me."

"Except you're clearly using the baby as a way to not have to focus on learning your job, but…" Cordelia shook her head. "No, I can't let you watch Cynthia right now. How about this, I'll watch her and you'll learn the kitchen etiquette that Sumia's supposed to be teaching you?" It wasn't a compromise Lissa wanted any part of, but she knew that her only option was to accept it, so she passed off the baby to Cordelia's waiting arms. "Thank you for being so understanding, Lissa. Now you two get to work, I'll go keep Cynthia nice and safe somewhere that isn't in here."

The mood in the kitchen once Cordelia left, the child in her arms, just wasn't the same, but things were taught and Lissa was forced to pay attention to them. She didn't exactly care for learning about the proper temperature to have the ovens to, nor did she want to know just how long making certain baked goods come to life took, because her mind was focused on the baby she'd gotten to spend a little bit of time with. "I really like your baby," she finally said, once Sumia was wrapping up talking about some of the pastries. "Like, really like her. It's been years since I last got to hold an actual baby, and holding her was a nice way to remember how that feels. Plus she's super cute!"

"Maybe I'll bring her by again sometime when you're here, then!" Checking to make sure that the pan she'd put in the oven was the correct one, Sumia smiled at the work she'd done as well as the compliment Lissa had just given her daughter. "And she is so cute, isn't she? I love that little girl with all my heart and then some!"

A bond was made that morning, between two ladies and their love of one child, and even if Lissa would have to go over the kitchen part of the job again in the future, she would at least walk away from the day with the memory of getting to spend time with a baby. An adorable little baby that she got put in charge of watching once the store was open. "It would be easier for you to watch her while studying than it would be for me to watch her while making drinks or for Sumia while she's doing her job," Cordelia explained, passing the baby back to Lissa's eager arms. "But I expect you to actually retain information, not just spend your time looking at Cynthia, got it?"

"Sure thing!" Lissa spoke without meaning her words, knowing that she was going to not retain any information at all as long as there was a sleeping baby in her arms. Thankfully for the others, and sadly for her, the person who was to come and pick up the baby showed up not long after the shop opened for the day, but in the time before they arrived, Lissa had done nothing but absentmindedly flip through recipe pages while cooing over the baby she was holding.

"Hey, miss, what are you doing there with my kid?" a male voice asked over the counter, causing Lissa to look up from what she was focused on. Standing there, looking unamused by all means, was a man with disheveled orange hair that looked like he'd just rolled out of bed moments before. "She's not supposed to be here, but I get here and some stranger's got their hands on her. What's the world coming to?"

Cordelia, who had been turned around as she was messing with the coffee maker, looked back over her shoulder and smiled at the man. "That's Lissa, our newest employee and Chrom's little sister. You remember Chrom, don't you?"

"Hard to forget the guy, especially after the time I tried stealing something with him on the clock. Yeesh, he didn't let me set foot back in this place until he was gone." The man scratched at the back of his head as he thought about that memory, before shrugging it off. "Still doesn't explain why Cynthia's here and not at home, but I'll accept that this girl isn't trying to kidnap her or anything like that."

"I'd never kidnap a kid, that would just be so mean and so not okay!" Getting to her feet as slowly as she could, to not disturb the child, Lissa approached the counter and, without really thinking, set Cynthia down on it. "See, look, she's all fine and okay and I was just watching her because there wasn't much else for me to do."

"I was just giving you a hard time, no worries." The guy bent down to get on a better level with his child, even though she was still fast asleep. "Gods, what a gem I've got here. I'd steal anything to make her happy, you know? Gotta do what I've gotta do for my baby."

"I don't like that you're talking about your disgusting thievery in this shop with me around," Cordelia interrupted with a sing-song tone to her voice, turning back to facing her work. "Granted, I haven't heard a word of you actually stealing anything in years, but—" Her comment was cut off by a crashing sound, coupled with the baby waking up and starting to whimper as well as Lissa trying her hardest not to laugh, snorting as she did. She turned her entire body around to see a hand attempting to reach into the pastry case, the man trying to take something for himself but knocking something over in the process. "—Gaius you dirty thief, you'll never change, will you?"

"Heh, I was going to pay for it in the end," he sheepishly replied, pulling his hand back and picking his child up to try and calm her. "What, do you really think I'd steal something from this place? Don't need to be getting Sumia in trouble for my sweet tooth, no way."

Rolling her eyes, Cordelia pointed towards the door. "Get out, you criminal. Don't come back inside this place today." Although he was not pleased by it, he did exactly as he'd been ordered to, leaving her to clean up the mess he'd left behind while Lissa still tried to not laugh at what she'd just seen. "Lissa, this is not funny by any means," she said, picking up the decorative bowl that had been knocked over in the attempted theft. "That man would have stolen something had he not been clumsy about it."

"I don't know, I think he was serious when he said he was going to pay for it. Why would he steal something from the place where his baby's mom works?" Lissa paused, thinking for a second, before looking back to the door to the kitchen. "Uh, speaking of her, shouldn't we have told her that he came by?"

"Him coming by is almost as much of a constant as some of our regular customers, and on days when he has to stop in to pick up Cynthia, it's for the best that we don't let Sumia know he was around. I'm sure this morning was filled with a lot of stress for her, and seeing his face when he's the cause for the stress would just make things worse." Cordelia's eyes were also focused on a door, but instead of the close-by one, she was looking to the entrance to the shop. "Don't be surprised if he disobeys my order and comes back in, by the way. He tends to do as he pleases."

Hesitating as she thought about what to say next, Lissa completely missed her chance to say anything at all, as Cordelia sent her back to her studying, much to her dismay. It wasn't as fun to be reading the recipes by herself as it had been with a baby in her arms, and she wondered if it would be frowned upon to ask if Sumia could bring her baby by more often. Having the little girl around was definitely a good way to make things less boring, that was for certain, and Lissa liked when things weren't so dry and dull.

There was always hope that certain customers would show their faces in the shop once more, bringing entertainment with them when they came in. But because it wasn't her first day anymore, when Chrom and his friends made their daily visit to get their regular order, not a single one of them said a word to Lissa, despite her trying to get her brother's attention by waving the recipe binder at him. The one upside to them not talking to her while they were in there was that she got to listen to their interaction with Cordelia in full, which must have been a new variation on the same old conversation they'd always had, something that she only knew because Cordelia actually interacted with a certain person in the group that she hadn't even known the name of the day before.

"Ahem, we don't seem to have as many of your normal bagels as usual," she said up at the counter, looking at the four men as they reacted to her news. "As in, we don't have any at all because my head baker was distracted today and didn't get around to making them this morning. I don't want to force you four to have to stay around until we get that taken care of, so how about you change things up and try something new today?"

"Cordelia, we don't try new things," Chrom told her with a laugh, "because we've tried them all before. But if you don't have what we get, you don't have it. We won't be picky."

She nodded, smiling at him, but her smile faltered slightly when she saw how Stahl was looking at the pastry case, his eyes drifting over all the different baked goods within it. "I think that one there might be picky, based on what he's looking at. What, is the news that your typical bagels are unavailable going to break your heart?"

Stahl, not realizing that she was talking to him until he was nudged to look up at her and acknowledge her presence, shook his head rapidly. "No ma'am! I've always wanted to try something that isn't our usual or something similar to it. Would it be too hard to ask to change the bagel order to something else?"

"It wouldn't be hard at all, if you really want something different." He clearly did, and since it wasn't like there was a magical "regular order" button on the register, she was able to substitute one bagel for a pastry of Stahl's choosing; however, after the guys were on their way and Lissa was up at the register herself stretching her legs, she noticed that two of the same pastry were missing. "Don't ask if I just gave one away, because I didn't," Cordelia answered, before Lissa could even ask about it. "I did what I always do, but I kept in mind what you told me yesterday. The one who got the pastry _was_ the one who you said Chrom gave my bonus bagels to, right?"

Lissa nodded, unsure of why Cordelia was asking something like that for clarification. It wasn't until she'd thought about it for a few minutes that the reason hit her, and when it did, she looked to her manager with concern. "Um, don't get mad if you think I'm prying, but why would you give him a second pastry when you could have just done like you always did and put another bagel in the bag? Don't the pastries cost more?"

"I wanted to make sure that someone would enjoy my gift to the group, and as he's the one who eats it anyway, why not make it a gift he'll definitely enjoy?" Her answer was given with a straight face, one that Lissa had to take seriously. "Now get back to what you're supposed to be doing, because you really do need to have that all memorized and quickly."

"I know, I know, I'm working on it," Lissa grumbled, going back to her spot in the corner to resume her binder-reading. The recipes were beginning to blur together, and she was convinced that she'd never be able to keep them straight in her head, despite any and all intentions to do just that.

The next time she was up from her spot was after the rush of customers had come and gone, her half-watching what Cordelia had been doing while she tried reading. There were a lot of tricks to the job that she was picking up on, such as methods to getting drinks made quicker or multiple items in the same bag, and she knew that she would have to ask Cordelia about those at some point. After all, if there were ways to make things easier, she wanted to be part of them so the job wasn't as daunting. She'd gone ahead and asked about one of the shortcuts she'd watched happen a few times, one that involved resetting one of the coffee makers, and while Cordelia was mid-explanation, the door to the shop opened and in walked a familiar face from the day before.

"It seems she still is employed here," the rough voice of the forgotten customer said, his eyes narrowing in Lissa's direction. "Cordelia, explain to me why such a horrible woman is still working under you? At least you're tolerable."

"Tolerable, sure, but I'm not _tolerant_ to you being rude to my new employee." Without missing a beat, or looking away from her machine she was in the middle of restarting, Cordelia tilted her head towards the door. "Now either play nice and apologize, or leave the shop. You can't berate her for making one mistake."

"Yeah, I didn't mean to ignore you and all that," Lissa chimed in, reaching for his hand to grab. "I'm really sorry about—" Her words were cut short in shock, as she got one finger on the back of his hand and he jerked away without warning. "—hey, I'm trying to apologize here, like a good person!"

He cringed as he rubbed at where her skin had made contact with his. "Don't ever touch me again, woman," he spat, before turning to stare at the back of Cordelia's head. "You, get me my normal order. I'm not playing friendly with a woman who doesn't grasp the concept of personal space."

Cordelia's head tilted a bit more. "Now that doesn't quite sound like what I'd told you to do, Lon'qu. Either apologize or leave, not be even ruder and still get served. As the manager of this establishment, I have the right to send you away if I see fit."

"You expect me to apologize to someone who disrespected me by touching me?" Lon'qu repeated, his eyes narrowing further, and when Cordelia simply nodded at his question, he let out a heavy breath. "Fine, if only because I know nowhere else in town that will let me sit and mind my own business for as long as I please." His eyes shifted to Lissa's face, which was sitting wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape as she tried to make sense of this man's behavior. "I'm sorry for whatever it is that I did to upset or hurt you. Forgive me."

"That's not really asking for forgiveness, it's more of demanding it, but okay I guess." Lissa closed her mouth and watched as the man exhaled once more, visibly unsettled by something that had just happened. "Now what was that order of yours again so I can make things right and take care of you?" He refused to say his order so Cordelia told her it, but when she prepared it exactly as it was supposed to be, he ignored it entirely. "Um, it's perfectly fine so just take it," she said, pushing his water cup closer to his side of the counter. "I didn't poison it or anything."

"I'd asked for Cordelia to make it, not you. I don't need someone like you touching what I'm buying." For the longest time, even after he'd had a new cup of water poured and a new pastry picked out, Lon'qu would shoot glares towards the counter and towards Lissa, confusing her as to what she'd done wrong. Was her touching his hand the way she had really that insulting to him?

When asked that very question, Cordelia shrugged. "He's been coming here for close to a year now, and I'm honestly not sure what his problem with the physical contact thing is. I don't know if you noticed, but when I remade his order, I had to do it with gloves on so that I didn't come in contact with anything he was going to, and…" She sighed, setting an elbow on the counter and resting her head on her hand as she looked out at Lon'qu at his table. "He's not a fan of women, I told you that yesterday. But it seems to be more than a dislike of them, you know?"

"I guess I get what you mean, yeah." Lissa put a finger to her lips as she thought about what could be done to get around this problem, because if there was one thing that she felt would make her job experience not a fun one, it would be not getting along with one of the regular customers. She would eventually learn the menu and its ins and outs, but if she couldn't change this rocky relationship, who knew how much she'd ultimately enjoy her job?

* * *

By the time she was tested on her recipe proficiency, Lissa had most of them down to some degree, making Cordelia proud of her little trainee and her progress. After the testing, she was cleared to take all the orders that came in, rather than picking and choosing which ones she'd do as practice, and the first day that Lissa manned the counter mostly alone was a rocky one, but despite the slow orders, everything was filled correctly and there weren't too many complaints on her performance.

"Why, I think you'll do just fine here once you've gotten everything down," Cordelia told her, beaming as she spoke. "You're not your brother, that's for sure, but you're getting things made without breaking anything, so that's a positive." Lissa wasn't completely convinced it was a compliment, but being reminded of Chrom's habit of breaking things and how she hadn't developed that herself was a nice thing to hear.

Every day after she'd get off, Lissa would walk back to her apartment, let herself in the front door, and collapse into the nearest seat she could find to simultaneously rest her legs and think about the events that had happened while at work. She'd think back on everyone she knew that came in that day, from her brother and his friends, to that Lon'qu guy, and everyone in between, and the conversations she'd either had with them or witnessed would drift through her mind. Since she was now able to take orders on her own, she would get saddled with filling her brother's regular order, and every day while she did that, Cordelia would come and strike up conversation with the guys, acting friendly with them all.

Through the snippets of chatter she'd overhear as she was pouring drinks and preparing a bag with four items in it (just for Cordelia to always slip a fifth in), she was learning things through these guys that she'd never known before. In fact, if it hadn't been for her listening in to the conversations, she never would have known about the grumblings of war that were beginning to crop up all around Ylisse. Her time had been spent focusing on work and her new job so much that she'd failed to notice anything out of the ordinary about the world around her. But as they'd repeat over and over, the rumors were nothing more than fearful people talking, and that there was no reason to believe otherwise.

One of those nights after she'd gotten home, sprawled out on the floor of her apartment like it was her bed, Lissa thought about how it was weird that no one had bothered to tell her anything about the military there in Ylisstol beginning to speak of war like they were. While not every member of Chrom's group of friends was a soldier, all four of them were involved in the military in some capacity, and when they spoke of the rumors they talked of them like they were nothing but jokes. But there were still rumors around, and that was slightly unsettling to anyone who'd overhear them.

The next morning, within minutes of the shop opening, what Lissa assumed was the group of guys came inside, judging by the times the doorbell went off. She looked towards the door and was assured her assumption was correct when she saw her brother's smiling face looking at her, but the hands that slammed down on the counter had fake nails attached to them, nails that tapped the countertop. "Lissa, dearest, why don't you stop staring at Chrom and assist your customer up front?" her best friend's high-pitched voice asked, and Lissa excitedly looked from the door to the counter, where Maribelle stood. "There, there, that's what a good employee does, isn't it?"

"As if you'd know what good employees do, miss 'I don't work because I don't have to'. What brings you in here today, anyway?" The group was converging on the counter, Maribelle being the front and foremost person while three of the normal four guys stood around her. She tilted her head back to motion towards the men, a response Lissa didn't quite accept. "I'm not sure why them all being here means you have to be here too, but okay I guess. Where's Stahl, by the way?"

"He said he was going to meet us here, rather than needing a ride over with Frederick, so someone else got to come in his place," Chrom answered, not very thrilled in the slightest with what he'd had to say. "While I'm all for people bringing their significant others, did it have to be her?"

"I can hear you, you know!" Maribelle's fingers tapped on the counter a bit more. "And I didn't ask to be brought along, it was offered to me as a quick date. I was not going to turn something like this down from my darling Freddybear." Behind her, the brown-haired man she'd just referred by pet-name to was turning bright red, covering his face at what she'd just said. Maribelle kept on speaking, though, unaware of his reaction. "Even if it's him and his friends, not just him."

Clearing his throat, Chrom cut in with, "Maribelle, enough with mortifying your boyfriend. Poor guy has to go into work after this and he's going to have to answer to people when they ask why he looks like he's turned into a tomato." Cue his awkward laughter, plus grumbling from Frederick himself, as Maribelle actually turned to look at her boyfriend's face, frowning when she saw that Chrom wasn't exaggerating when he compared him to a tomato. "But again, why did it have to be her here with us?"

"I'm not explaining that again," Maribelle said, her voice barely more than a whisper as she thought about what she'd just done, but when she spoke again she was back to normal volume. "However, coming here today means I get to see my best friend on the job, which is a new and exciting experience for her!"

"Yeah, one that I don't think is going to go like you hope it will." Glancing at the clock and seeing that it hadn't been more than a couple minutes since they'd walked in, Lissa knew that she needed to get their order taken care of before someone else came in, or before one of her co-workers caught her just chatting. "I've gotta get you guys your order right now, so what'll it be? Not the usual, since you're missing a person, but still."

She had figured that it would be a somewhat similar order to the group's usual, but she hadn't taken into account that Maribelle wasn't going to order something simple. The three men, they were easy to handle, but she made it a point to run her best friend ragged with her complicated drink order that had several substitutions and changes made midway through making the drink. The end result was several half-finished drinks that weren't correct, the three drinks the men had ordered, and Maribelle's monstrosity of a drink, plus their daily baked goods. Then the nightmare of ringing everything up had to happen, during which Chrom insisted he wasn't going to pay for the guest's drink because it was easily twice as expensive as anything else.

But once everything was done and they were settled, Lissa could lean back and smile at how well she'd handled the situation. She had chosen focusing on work over talking to her friend, despite Maribelle's attempt at conversation, and if Cordelia were there watching her, she would have been so proud. That was the moment when it hit Lissa that Cordelia wasn't there, and she had no idea why that was. She was there every day the shop was open, even if she came in right before opening, and suddenly she wasn't there at all. How she hadn't noticed that sooner, she wasn't sure, but it became very apparent that it wasn't meant to be that way opened and Stahl came half-running in, a small bouquet of flowers in one arm.

He looked at the counter and saw Lissa standing behind it, his face falling as he realized she wasn't the woman he was looking for. "W-where's Cordelia?" he stammered, trying not to make eye contact with his friends, all of whom were in various states of shock and surprise at his romantic gesture. "I thought it would be nice to bring her some flowers and…she said she'd be here today. She told me that last night!"

"I don't know where she is, but I'm sure if she was here, she'd really appreciate your kindness," Lissa replied, smiling at the man as he anxiously played with the plastic on his bouquet. "Those are some pretty sweet flowers you've got there. Where'd you get them?"

"Flower shop down the street. The lady working there, she suggested thornless roses because they mean something cheesy and romantic. I thought it would be nice because Cordelia doesn't need to prick her fingers when she's got to touch food and drinks and all that." Stahl let out a saddened sigh, coming closer to the counter to set the flowers on it. "But by the time she sees them, they'll probably not look as good as they do now."

In the middle of their talking, neither of them had heard the door open again (although the group sitting at one of the tables sure did), and so it came as a surprise to them both when Cordelia was heard saying, "I show up late to work one time in my life and this is what awaits me when I arrive?" Both Lissa and Stahl, caught off-guard by hearing her voice, looked to see if she was real, and the genuine smile on her face let them know that she indeed was, and that she was amused by what was happening. "Why, I thought you were becoming sweet on me, Stahl, not on Lissa."

"Sweet on her? No way, there's only one coffee shop girl I have eyes for, and it's the one who gives me extra food every time I'm in here!" It took a moment for Stahl to catch on that he'd just made the wrong proclamation in the situation, but based on the way Cordelia was still smiling at it, she didn't mind the slip-up all that much. "Er, I meant to say that it's the one who's nothing but kind and friendly to me, who talks to me about things now that she realizes I exist and all that."

"And you brought me flowers to prove it? That's the kindest thing anyone's ever done for me." Reaching past him to grab the bouquet off the counter, Cordelia took in a deep breath of the roses' smell, her eyes fluttering shut as she did. "And they smell divine, just as beautiful as they look. You're a real charmer, Stahl, and I don't know how to thank you for this gift."

He scratched at the back of his head, mussing his green hair more than it already was. "Uh, I don't want to sound too forward, but you could always just keep being nice to me like you already do. It's been a nice few weeks where I've been able to come in here and talk about anything with you, and I'd love to keep letting that happen!" Whatever mood he was trying to set with the comment, it was ruined by a low growl that came from his stomach, causing him to sigh. "And also I'd love it if you'd keep giving me extras like you already do. I don't know what it is with what you give me, but it sure is nice."

"I think I can manage to keep giving you what I always have," she said, walking around the counter to open the latch to let herself behind it, "but only if you promise to never change, to never let things get weird between us, to stay you always and forever."

"Why, this is sounding an awful lot like a marriage proposal," Maribelle commented, taking a sip of her drink after she finished speaking. "Who knew that a coffee shop like this would play host to one of those?"

"It's not a proposal!" If he hadn't already been flustered by what he was there to do, Stahl might not have snapped as loudly as he did, but he was on edge already and hearing Maribelle's comment pushed him too far. While Cordelia laughed softly on her side of the counter, he tried collecting himself, hoping that his actions there weren't going to be judged by her, or by anyone. "I'm just letting Cordelia know I like her and what she does. That's all that's going on here. Promise."

"We're all still expecting invitations when the wedding happens." Chrom spoke with a serious tone, one that was overshadowed by the eager nods of the people around him. "Which, if your behavior today is any indication, won't be for a few years, but we'll still want to be there, for many reasons."

"I don't even want to think about getting married right now," he said, still scratching at his head. "I just wanted to let Cordelia know how I felt about her. Does that really have to lead straight to marriage?" Even after being assured that it didn't, Stahl seemed nervous about his interactions with the redhead behind the counter, to the point that he had to beg Lissa to take his order instead—although Cordelia gladly paid the money to give him a second snack on top of the one he'd ordered.

The roses were moved from their plastic wrapper to a large glass that was outfitted with a ribbon to make it look pretty, and the makeshift vase was set on the counter so that everyone who came into the shop that day could see the flowers. Lissa caught Cordelia smiling often as she looked at them, humming to herself as she'd be doing small work to keep herself busy. She wondered if her manager had anything on her mind aside from getting work done, such as how to repay the man who'd given her the flowers, but she never could quite find the words to ask that question. In fact, she never got around to asking why she'd been so late to work to begin with, a question that needed to be asked.

But asking that was pushed to the back of her mind, as she knew that it probably wasn't going to happen again for a long time, if what Cordelia had said when she showed up was any indication. So, just like Cordelia was, Lissa distracted herself with work, occasionally talking to the only other soul there in the front part of the shop. When customers came in, their focus turned to them, but for the most part it was just the two ladies, cleaning machines and preparing drink mixes, minding their own business.

That all changed when, like he always did, Lon'qu came in, ignoring any and all friendly greetings to gruffly demand his normal order at the counter. He did glance at the flowers for a few seconds, time during which Lissa could have sworn she saw the corners of his mouth tick up, but he said nothing about them and did nothing out of the ordinary in his time that he interacted with the two ladies. "I'm still going to find a way to dazzle him, one of these days," she told Cordelia, who laughed at the idea. "Hey, it's not funny! It's really going to happen, I swear it to you!"

"I think, at this point, the only way it's going to happen is if you somehow become a man, which I know that's not anything you're interested in doing." Cordelia placed her hand on Lissa's shoulder, still laughing as she did. "Let him be a lost cause for you. Then again, lost causes shouldn't happen, so maybe…" She trailed off, retracting her hand to get back to work. "No, never mind me, I'm just thinking out loud."

Just like with the things earlier in the day, Lissa resisted asking for clarification, but unlike the earlier events, what Cordelia could possibly have been thinking about ate away at her mind all night. She was laying on her floor once more that night, just asking herself what there possibly could have been that Cordelia was considering there. Was it to ban the rude man the next time he came in, or was it to act sickeningly sweet towards him?

As she would later find out, either of those options would have been infinitely better than the actual choice.


	3. A Modest Suggestion

Over the next couple of months, things stayed relatively similar to how they'd been from Lissa's first day at the shop. There were the regulars that always came in, their orders and dispositions towards her never really changing, and there were unfamiliar faces who would pop in one time, never to be seen again. Some new people started to come in more regularly, all saying that they were in town for military-related reasons; there were still whispers of war that could be overheard at times, but the people Lissa knew that were in the military spoke nothing of it. Rumors were rumors, and if they were driving business into the coffee shop, she wasn't going to complain.

It was after a couple busy weeks that Cordelia posted a notice behind the counter for an important business meeting one day after the shop closed, located at one of the nicer restaurants in that part of Ylisstol. Having never actually been much of anywhere in town that wasn't within walking distance of her apartment, as she'd grown up on the outskirts of town to stay out of trouble, Lissa was thrilled at the idea of getting to go out for a meal with her work friends and discuss whatever it was about the job that needed discussing. Her theory was that Cordelia wanted to talk to her and Sumia about how to approach those busier times without feeling overworked, but she wasn't going to be sure about that until she was there at the restaurant.

In the hours between her getting off work and her going to the meeting, she'd expected to spend the time lounging around at home, possibly getting some cleaning done. But no sooner than when she had decided to start cleaning did someone come knocking at her door. Rather, it was a single knock and then the door coming flying open, a clearly invigorated Maribelle the cause for the disruption. "Uh, next time, don't you think you could wait until I let you in?" Lissa teasingly asked, before her friend rushed at her and shoved a hand in her face. "Okay, okay, I get—oh gods is that a ring?"

"I couldn't wait to tell you any longer, my dearest friend! Yes, it's a ring!" Pulling her hand back and covering it with her other one, both of which she pulled to her mouth, Maribelle was trying her hardest not to burst into tears. "It happened this morning after a bit of bad news, but it made everything bad turn to good and I'm so thrilled!"

"I'm happy for you too, but bad news?" Never one to dwell on the negative of a situation, it felt weird for Lissa to be calling attention back to that part of the announcement. "He's not, like, dying or something, is he? He's not just marrying you so that you can have his belongings when he dies?"

The hands dropped a bit, and now tears were beginning to form in the corners of Maribelle's eyes. "I-I wouldn't put it that way, not necessarily, but this is all…well, it's all because of the chance that he could die if something happened to go wrong at some point, I suppose." She blinked and a few small drops began their journey down her cheek. "Lissa, please, today's a happy day for me, don't make me think about that possibility!"'

"You're the one who brought up 'bad news', what was I supposed to do with that? Act like you didn't say it?" Lissa reached for Maribelle's arms and grabbed them both, separating her hands so that she could see the ring once more. "I just can't believe that he actually proposed to you! It's about time, and the ring is so pretty!"

"I'd only been in love with him forever, dearie, so it was going to happen sooner or later, once he realized how much I mean to him." Looking down at her own hand and seeing the sunlight from the window glint against her new ring, Maribelle blinked back a few more pesky tears. "I'm going to get to spend the rest of my life with my sweet Frederick, provided that things don't go awry somewhere along the road, and I couldn't ask for anyone better to be with!"

Lissa grinned, letting go of her friend's arms to wrap her in a big hug instead. "Yeah, he's totally perfect for you! If a guy will let a girl completely mortify him in public, he's gotta be a keeper, right?" She giggled, pulling Maribelle in even closer. "You're going to be such a great wife to him, I know it!"

"Well yes, being great is one of those things I naturally excel at!" Maribelle tried squirming out of the hug, but when she came to the conclusion that Lissa's arms weren't going to let her out so easily, she gave up and reciprocated the hug instead. "There's going to be so much planning and preparing and everything in the coming months, so that we can have my dream wedding before he—oh, never mind the why right now, I'm getting married!"

The girls spent the next couple of hours discussing some of the details of what was coming, but every time the idea of why this was happening was brought up, Maribelle was quick to move on without explanation. This left one of two possible reasons in Lissa's mind: the first was the one she'd already suggested, that he was dying or close to it and needed to be married before he died, and the second was something less innocent and wasn't something she wanted to accuse her friend of. After all the time she'd known Maribelle, she knew that she was a pure soul who would never do anything to damage that purity, no matter what.

They were in the middle of beginning to set rough plans for what the wedding might be like when Lissa remembered that she had somewhere she needed to get to that night. Her eyes darted to the only clock currently visible in her apartment, the tiny one on her stove, and when she saw it was five minutes past the meeting's start time, she jumped from her spot on the floor in shock, spooking Maribelle by her sudden movement. "I'm late for my work meeting!" she explained, running around the small room to grab everything she'd need for a dinner meeting. "Gods, Cordelia is going to kill me when I get there!"

"She'll be plenty understanding if you explain the situation to her. If she's anything like I imagine her to be, she's a romantic at heart and will melt at the story of you helping your best friend with some initial wedding planning nonsense!" Once again clasping her hands in front of her, Maribelle watched as Lissa ran around frantically, cursing herself under her breath for letting time slip away so badly. "It'll all be okay, dearie, I assure you!"

"You don't understand, Maribelle, this is a meeting for work where I can be punished for not being there! How could I expect you to understand when you've never had to work a day in your life!" Lissa had gotten herself ready in thirty seconds flat, and was now waiting by the door for Maribelle to get to her feet and ready to leave. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the excuse, but this _is_ the woman that gets on me when I show up at my scheduled start time!"

By the time Maribelle was standing and heading for the door, Lissa had already opened it and was waiting impatiently outside. "You may be sure of that, but I'm sure that she'll understand the circumstances and forgive you for being a bit late."

"You're not getting it! Five minutes, that's a bit late! But I'm already five minutes late and I'm not there, so I'm gonna be mega-super late when I do show up!" Grabbing her hair and tugging at it, Lissa's foot was tapping nonstop until Maribelle was outside her apartment and she could lock the door behind her. "There, now I'll talk to you more about this later, but now I've just got to go!"

Before Maribelle could get another word in, Lissa was running down the stairs to leave the building, leaving her there to shake her head and sigh. "Poor girl, if only she'd listen to me and take a single one of my words to heart. Glad to see how much the job means to her, but she's overreacting just a tad…"

Running like her life was actually on the line, Lissa made it down to the restaurant where the meeting was within ten minutes, completely out of breath when she made it to the front doors. Collecting herself enough to go inside took another couple of minutes, so she was closing in on being twenty minutes late when she finally made it to the table, where she saw Cordelia sitting, her eyes closed as if she were napping while seated. "I am so sorry I'm late to this meeting," Lissa started explaining, watching as Cordelia opened an eye and motioned for her to take a seat. "I got so caught up in talking to Maribelle that I didn't even realize it was time to come here! But it looks like I'm not the latest one, heh, so that's a good thing!"

Cordelia let her eye close once more, shrugging at what she'd just heard. "You certainly aren't the latest one, which doesn't come as much of a surprise. After all the work I did over the past couple of months to make this happen and he doesn't show up at all for anything in the end!"

"Yeah well, she's—wait, did you say 'he'? As in, you're not talking about Sumia?" Lissa watched as Cordelia gave a small nod in response, then she looked over at the empty seat beside her. "Then who's supposed to sit here?" Her eyes tracked across the table from one empty seat to another, the second one at least showing signs that someone had been there at one point. "And next to you, too! Cordelia, isn't this a work meeting?"

She shrugged again, both eyes opening up fully. "It's kind of a work meeting, but it's not one for Sumia to be at because she doesn't need to deal with this. She's already got, while not a perfect man, a man nonetheless, and she can focus her free time on him and their child." Cordelia was clearly watching Lissa as she tried to make sense of what she was vaguely being told in regards to what the true intentions of this meeting were. "Lissa, this has nothing to do with actual work. Call it an extracurricular activity."

"I thought I was done with those when I graduated." Speaking with an awkward laugh trying to escape as she talked, Lissa swallowed down hard and hoped for the best from what was to come. "But okay, it's not an actual work meeting, got it. What's the point of me being here then? Some company for you?"

"Trust me, it's not me who needs the company here tonight." As if it had been rehearsed, when she said that, Stahl poked his head around one of the walls there in the restaurant, his face lighting up at the sight of Lissa. He came to the table and retook his seat there next to Cordelia, wrapping an arm around her tenderly as he did. "As you can see, I already have quite the gentleman here with me tonight."

"Y-you two are actually dating?" The news shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to Lissa as it did, after having watched the two interact over the past months, every morning when Stahl came in with Chrom and the other guys. She knew that Cordelia had slowly moved to focusing on Stahl during those encounters, to the point that Chrom had mentioned it a time or two to Lissa when they'd be at his house for a family get-together or something, but she'd never thought that anything had come out of it. "Wow, today's just the big day of letting me know about relationship stuff, isn't it?"

"Yeah, when I found out the other thing I'm sure you know now, I actually got really scared that you wouldn't show up to this and that you'd make all of Cordelia's work go to waste." Stahl, leaning over to rest his head on Cordelia's shoulder a bit, smiled at Lissa as he spoke. "I really thought you would pick talking about those two getting engaged over coming to this whole thing here."

"But your worry was misplaced, because while Lissa showed up, her date certainly didn't." Mimicking her boyfriend, Cordelia leaned her head to the side, letting it rest on top of his, but rather than seeming happy when she did, she let out a long sigh. "I should have known that telling him that there would be women present was a bad idea. I thought it would give him the time to prepare for this, but instead it—"

Someone clearing their throat interrupted Cordelia's sentence, and all three people at the table looked to the source of the noise, the lovebirds getting off of one another to properly see. "I was unaware that when you said a woman would be present, you meant one with no manners," Lon'qu flatly said, his eyes like daggers into Lissa's. "If you think I am going to sit next to someone so vile, you will be making other plans, preferably ones without me involved in them."

"Speaking about Lissa like that isn't very polite, especially with her sitting right there to hear it." Cordelia pointed towards the seat that Lon'qu was supposed to take, a motion he ignored. "I didn't make the offer I made to you for you to behave like this, mister. Now sit down or I'll take back what I've given you to get you here."

"Your coffee is subpar at best, hence why I don't order it. Taking back your offer of free drinks doesn't matter all that much to me." Even with his comment, he still reluctantly took his seat, although he made sure to slide it as far away from Lissa as he could, all while she looked at him in shame. How could she have managed to upset a guy so much that he acted like this around her? "You're lucky I have nothing else to do tonight, or I would be long gone from this place."

"And then you'd be forbidden from coming into the shop again for as long as you're stationed here." Cordelia was having none of this behavior, and she wanted to make sure that Lon'qu knew it. "But you're here and you're staying until we're done tonight, and even if you and Lissa don't walk away from this respecting each other any more than you did when you arrived, maybe at least you two will have learned how to pretend to be nice."

There was something about what she'd just heard that didn't sit right with Lissa, and although she knew it wasn't the best idea, she cast a glance over at Lon'qu, who scowled right back at her. "She just said you're stationed here, right?" she asked for clarification, at which he curtly nodded. "So that means you're not from around here, and maybe you're so mean to me because I'm not from where you're from? Is that it?"

"No, I'm mean to you because you're a pesky woman and I despise women." His words were being spat like they left a bad taste in his mouth, and he was quite obviously taking a lot of self-control to not attack her as he said them. "It doesn't matter where the women are from, Ylisse, Ferox, Valm, they're all the same: disgusting."

"We're done degrading women as a whole, thank you." Cordelia clicked her tongue at what she'd just heard, using her hand to motion for Lon'qu to close his mouth. "The last thing I want to come from tonight is Lissa thinking you really are a woman hater. Which, based on what I've learned about you as of late, is quite far from the truth. So hush about your negative opinion and learn a new one."

Silently clapping his hands together, Stahl seemed quite impressed with Cordelia's shutdown of the conversation. "That was so beautiful, it was kind of like those pastries you serve at your shop sometimes. You know, the really fancy ones? Man I could go for one of those right about now, or maybe just some dinner, I don't really know." He stopped with the clapping to look around the restaurant for anyone resembling a server. "When do you think we're going to get our order taken? We came here to eat, didn't we?"

"To eat and to be judged for our opinions, clearly." Lon'qu went to stand up, but Cordelia beat him to getting up first, using her now-height advantage to keep him down in his chair. "This isn't the kind of place I'm interested in being. Let me go back to my house where I can feel however I want about whomever I want. It's for the best."

"No, you learning how to respect my coworker is for the best. I've seen how you ignore Lissa entirely when you come into the shop, and I need that to stop right now." Taking her seat once more, Cordelia looked expectantly at Lissa, hoping the young blonde would say something. When she didn't, she prodded a bit. "Now, Lissa, why don't you let Lon'qu know how you feel?"

Lissa blankly stared at everyone for quite some time, trying to put any sort of words together that could even begin to explain how she felt about this guy. Since they'd met, he'd done nothing but have an attitude towards her that he apparently had towards all women, but since she didn't see him interact with many others, she wasn't sure if that was the case or not. Saying anything to him that could set him off on another woman-hating tangent wasn't in her best interests, but neither was explaining that she didn't appreciate the way he treated her. "I'm not really sure how I feel," she admitted, knowing that she was letting Cordelia down by saying that, "and I don't think I want to talk about how I feel, if I somehow figured out how that is."

"She said it, she doesn't want to talk about anything. Now let me go." Once again trying to stand up, Lon'qu wasn't as intimidated by Cordelia because she was still seated, but when she reached across the table to grab for his arm, he focused more on recoiling from her than he did getting to his feet. "Do not, under any circumstances, touch me, woman."

"I'll respect that the moment you respect Lissa and treat her like the great person she is!" Cordelia leaned a bit more over the table, her fingers barely out of reach of the closest part of Lon'qu to her. "Now sit back down and appreciate what we're doing for you here tonight! You've said several times before to me that you don't have any friends around here, and we're giving you a chance to make friends now, aren't we?"

He hesitated on answering, debating with himself whether or not he should just go ahead and leave, but his decision was clear when he sat back down, moving his chair even further away from Lissa's. "I have no interest in making friends with you ladies, but I suppose there is someone here worth my time."

"Who's he talking about there?" Stahl asked, completely oblivious to what had just happened because he was too busy looking around for the server for their table. When it hit him that the answer to his question was himself, he awkwardly laughed it off. "Right, he'd be talking about the only guy here…right."

Even with the incredibly rocky start to the night, after things settled down and there wasn't arguing happening, Lissa still had hope that something good or useful would come out of the not-actual-meeting. She could have been spending that time chatting with Maribelle about things, but because she thought she needed to be a good employee, she was sticking with this clear attempt to get her on the good side of the rude guy sitting next to her, despite it clearly not working even slightly. How was it even expected to work, though? He was not changing his mind-set on women, and that meant that as long as she was still female, there wasn't going to be any ground made up.

For the duration of the meal, the only person Lon'qu talked to was Stahl, acting like both of the ladies at the table simply were not there. "Eventually he'll come to realize that if a lady's paying his bill, he's got to show her some attention," Cordelia whispered across the table to Lissa, blocking her mouth with her hand to keep either guy from hearing her speak. "While it might be unconventional for me to pay for someone's meal while my meal's being paid for by someone else, it's the only choice I have."

"You're not paying for my food too, are you?" When she got a small nod in response, Lissa went wide-eyed and shook her head rapidly. "No, please, don't worry about me! I can take care of myself, it's something I've gotten really good at since I started living on my own!"

"Perhaps I should have answered that differently. I'm not paying for your meal, but since I did invite you out tonight, Stahl will be covering your bill." Dropping her hand for a second, she glanced over at her boyfriend and how he was seamlessly switching between eating and a conversation about something related to military functions. When she looked back at Lissa, her mouth was upturned in a smile. "After all, he's eating enough for all of us twice over."

"Well I guess I won't complain if he's paying for me, but I don't need a guy to cover my bills all the time!" Lissa snorted with laughter, something she wasn't supposed to do, as it prompted Cordelia to gasp and pretend to go back to eating her own meal while both guys looked to the disruption in various states of confusion.

Figuring it was just a random thought to cross her mind that caused her to laugh, Stahl quickly moved past what had happened, but Lon'qu let his eyes linger on Lissa as she turned red and covered her face in shame. "What's so funny, woman? Two men have a long conversation about how the military of Ylisse needs to refrain from sticking its nose places it doesn't belong, and you think there's something funny to it?"

"I wasn't laughing about what you were talking about, I swear!" Quickly becoming flustered at the accusation, Lissa tried her hardest to come up with some valid explanation for her behavior, but nothing came to mind that would work.

"Then what were you laughing at?" She couldn't answer him, not when she knew Cordelia was looking at her, begging her to not confess to what their whispers had involved. "That's what I figured. An entitled little girl like you must find it quite hilarious that brave men and women are being screwed over by the leadership of the Ylissean army. Leadership that, if I understand correctly, is aided by none other than your brother nowadays."

Squirming in her seat, wanting to admit to things just to keep this conversation from going anywhere else, Lissa wasn't actually given the chance to say anything more, as Lon'qu just kept going. "There's no reason for anyone in Ylisse to care about what's happening in the bordering countries unless it directly affects them. You don't see the Feroxi army being mobilized for other countries' skirmishes, you see us being stationed in other countries to learn their strategies, but you don't see us acting on what we learn."

"She wasn't laughing at your conversation, Lon'qu, so stop attacking her." Cordelia was stepping in, noticing that Lissa wasn't going to defend herself. "After all, she's still a relatively young girl with no military knowledge aside from what everyone's told her, she doesn't have any reason to have an opinion on what you're discussing. Now, if it were me who laughed, you'd be more in the right at getting snappy with me, although, I must say, you must be rather sheltered if you don't think your Feroxi leaders don't use the intel they get from their soldiers stationed elsewhere."

"And how could you make such a pointed accusation about my commanders?" It was the first time that Lissa had heard Lon'qu speak in a tone that wasn't either flat or angered, as he was showing genuine curiosity in his voice. "I did not volunteer to move to Ylisstol to be a middleman for their intelligence."

Cordelia tapped her fingers on the table for a second as she mentally put her words in order, before unleashing them on the man: "Why, I can make this accusation as I've gone through military training and know a thing or two about how the different countries run their forces. Sure, Ylisse soldiers get involved more than they might need to, but Ferox soldiers go in fighting a lot more than anyone else, basing their decisions on what our decisions are."

"We are an elite force of fighters, tactical attacks being our job." No longer concerned and actually rather surprised that Cordelia had refuted him so well, Lon'qu leaned a bit back into his seat. "I was unaware that you were a member of the Ylissean military. Should have figured it when you were not afraid to square off with me at any time, but the fact remains that it comes as a shock to me."

She shrugged, smiling as she did. "Technically I'm just a member of the reserve forces, available if they need me but working like any other citizen until they do. Chrom was the same way until he got the itch to make commanding his full-time job, and while I miss being able to share stories about the training without the work with him, I know he's happier trying to make sense of leading the military."

"Er, well, it makes sense that a woman wouldn't want to dirty her hands by being a proper member of the military. Too much work for you?" If the question had been a genuine one, Cordelia might have lunged over the table to physically attack Lon'qu, but it was clear that he was trying his best as joking with her. "I never would have imagined living within a culture where so many women willingly turn to supporting their country. In Ferox, only the strongest women survive, and even then, the women in military are few and far between."

"I've heard stories of some of your female commanders, they seem like class-act women. I was unaware that there weren't many of them, though." Cordelia laughed softly, her smile disappearing a bit. "See, why can't we have these sorts of conversations in the shop? Why can't you come in, get your drink and food and talk about something with us?"

He looked at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he thought about what she was asking. "Because talking to you is different than talking to an entitled woman who feels she deserves the world handed to her," he answered, "and as it's not just you behind that counter, I cannot spend my time talking to you when she is around."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but she's around right now, isn't she? And you've been talking to Cordelia just fine, so is there really a problem?" Speaking with his mouth half-full with food, it wasn't until all eyes were on him and he'd swallowed what he was chewing that Stahl spoke again. "I'm not normally one for assuming things, but maybe your aversion to talking around Lissa has something to do with—"

"If you're implying I have any feelings towards her aside from disgust, you are confused and need to rethink what you're saying." Just hearing the words made Lissa's stomach drop, knowing that this man was so put off by her that he would say it in front of everyone. She felt herself starting to cry, so she did what she thought was best, which was to choke out an apology and leave the table, running from the scene of the dinner to the first corner she could find to slump into, burying her face into her arms and letting loose the tears.

She shouldn't have come to this dinner, she should have chosen to forget about it completely and stay at home talking with her best friend about happy things. She could have spent the evening getting more and more excited about what was to be coming in her friend's future, but instead she came out and learned that there was no fixing what damage her mistake on her first day of work had caused.

Heavy-stepping feet walked past her, not concerned with the fact that a young woman had hidden herself in the corner. It wasn't for several minutes that a trail of light footsteps came her way, the feet finding their destination right next to her. "I'm sorry he acted like that. You know that Stahl was just trying to step in and make things better, and he had no idea that Lon'qu would go off on you again." Squatting down to get more on Lissa's level, Cordelia brushed away mussed bangs from her friend's forehead to try and calm her a bit. "There, there, don't cry, it's all okay…"

"I wish I never had to interact with that guy, ever!" Lissa's voice was cracking with every word she said, her crying making it hard to understand what she was saying. "I wish I could just go back and not have said I'd take his order and then none of this would have happened and everything would have been fine!"

"You would have had to interact with him at some point, given the nature of our workplace and whatnot, but sweetie, you don't need to cry over him." Cordelia was rubbing at Lissa's face with her thumb, trying to be as comforting as possible. "He's just a man with a problem with women in general, not a problem with you."

Lissa tilted her head up to look into Cordelia's gently-smiling face, knowing that she must have looked like a disaster with reddened cheeks that had tears cascading down them. "But he talks to you just fine. It's not a problem with women if he can talk to you, is it?"

Her eyes shifting downward, Cordelia sighed, "It sure looks like I'm lying to you, but I guarantee that it's a problem with all women. You've never seen Sumia try to interact with him, have you? It's because he's done this to her before too, and she decided he wasn't worth the effort."

"Then can I just have you do all the talking to him?" She knew that the way Sumia was able to get out of dealing with him was because she worked almost exclusively in the kitchen, a luxury she didn't have. "Unless you're telling me that you're going to make me work alone now, because this isn't the time for that."

"I'm not saying you'll be alone, but you're correct in saying this isn't the time to talk about work schedules! Come on, let's go back to the table. Maybe we'll get an apology out of Lon'qu for making you cry like this." Standing partially back up, Cordelia offered Lissa a hand to get her to her feet, a hand that was reluctantly used. Once they were both upright, Cordelia hugged her friend for a few seconds before leading her back to the table, where they found Stahl sitting alone, still eating what he'd ordered. "Where did Lon'qu go?" she asked, taking her seat after pushing Lissa towards hers. "Don't tell me he left. Please, for the love of everything, don't say it."

Stahl gave a long noncommittal noise, during which Cordelia firmly slapped herself on the forehead, dragging her hand down her face as her boyfriend's noise continued. When he finally finished, he swayed a bit in his seat as he began to explain what had happened in their absence. "Not long after you left, Cordelia, he decided he was done with us here, and even though I asked him to please stay, he ignored me and said he'd be by for his free coffee sometime this week."

That was when he reached for a stack of cash on the table, grabbing it and handing it to Cordelia. "He also made sure to leave this. I counted it already, it's way more than enough to pay for everything tonight. Do you think he wanted to cause a scene to then pay for things, or do you think he just wanted to apologize through money?"

"I don't think it's the first one, that's for sure." Raising her eyebrows at the money she was now holding, Cordelia shook her head and gave a small sigh. "I always knew that Lon'qu was a little different, but this is just bizarre. He attacked Lissa, acted like he wasn't happy being here, argued with me about military stuff, yet he still paid for everything in the end. Next time I see him, I'm going to have to ask him about this." She waved the money around, before tossing it back on the table. "Then again, maybe it would be best if we just acted like this night never happened."

For Lissa, agreeing with that statement was one of the easiest decisions she ever had to make.

* * *

It wasn't even a week later when what had happened that night reared its ugly head inside the coffee shop. Much like Lissa had feared was being implied, she was working a shift with no one else up front with her, Cordelia off doing something or other that was taking up her entire afternoon (although, when she had left after opening, she seemed to be confused as to what she was doing), and when Lon'qu came walking through the door, her entire body froze in fear. What was she going to do about him, knowing that he did not care for her and that she couldn't turn to someone else for help?

Her best idea was to duck and hide, and hope that he wouldn't see her having been standing there moments before. That, of course, did not work in the slightest, as he came up to the counter, which she was hiding right behind, and leaned over it to make sure she was there after all. "It seems it's just you in here today," he grumbled, "and while I'd rather not have to ask you for anything, I don't have a choice. Give me my free coffee."

"Is that all you want? Or are you going to yell at me for existing again too?" Poking her head out from where she was hiding, Lissa took note of how close Lon'qu had his face to her, and she backed away a little to keep him from reacting harshly. When he didn't say a thing, just looking up to the coffee machine, she sighed. "On it, sir."

"Don't call me sir, this isn't a military institution and I'm not your superior." He seemed put off by her name for him, causing him to stand back upright to look around the shop to make sure no one had overheard him rebuff her. "It makes me uncomfortable when a woman speaks to me with such respect."

"So you'd rather me disrespect you?" Lissa asked, confused at what he was getting at. He shook his head, however, which left her with nothing but more questions. "Then what am I supposed to call you, if not sir? Nothing?"

He was still looking around the shop, but she saw the slight shrug of one shoulder that he gave her. "My name, perhaps? That is, after all, what Cordelia does."

"But I'm not Cordelia, and you don't treat me nice enough for me to call you anything and mean it." Crossing her arms over her chest, Lissa gave a small _hmph_ in pride at what she'd said, although it didn't seem to faze Lon'qu in the slightest. "I'll get to making your drink and getting you what you want, you man, but you're not getting any friendliness from me!"

"A woman who goes from crying when a man steps on her feelings to snapping back at him. You're an interesting one, Lissa." Hearing him actually say her name made her heartbeat pick up, the way the letters spilled from his mouth sounding oddly pleasing to her. She couldn't let it be known that she enjoyed hearing him say her name, though, so she turned her back to him and got to work on making his free drink—a drink that, once she went to ring it up, she realized wasn't actually going to be free because someone had to pay for it.

The momentary panic of needing money to cover the charge of the drink wasn't helped at all by the fact that Cordelia seemed to have not left any sort of change around for this exact purpose. She was always pulling money from some pocket or drawer when the morning regulars came in; where was that magic spot when Lissa needed it? "Is something the matter? Technical problems? Can I just take my drink and go?" Lon'qu seemed to be getting impatient as he waited for her to figure things out, so she just waved him away without a word, hoping in her heart that the answer would come to her without her having to ask him to pay for his drink after all.

Somewhere amidst the searching and the panic, Lissa realized that Cordelia had done this to her not just to get her to interact with Lon'qu once again, but to get her to pay for something for him as well. She became worried that she was going to be stuck doing this for a long while, until she'd paid off what he'd paid for that dinner, but that wasn't how Cordelia did things so she really hoped that wasn't going to be the case in this instance. But at the same time, Cordelia paid for things out of her own pocket for people she liked—was that what she was trying to get Lissa to do here? She wasn't exactly fond of Lon'qu, a fact everyone in the world probably knew, but leave it to Cordelia to try and build some relationship between the two, even after what had happened that night.

On the thought of her manager, once she'd scrounged up enough change to pay for the drink and fully settle that tab, she still wasn't exactly sure what had happened to her. Whatever it was that had taken her from work that day, it had to have been really important if it kept her away as long as it had. Normally, if she needed to step out for a bit, she came back for the end of the shift to finish things up, but she'd been gone for hours without any word as to where she was or when she was coming back.

The fear that something had gone wrong began filling Lissa as the day went on, as the shop emptied and filled and emptied again. She didn't know how to close up by herself, and she knew that Sumia wasn't going to be much help, so the only way things would end up all right for everyone was if Cordelia came back through the front door to solve all the problems in the world. And back through that door she came, just before closing time, her face red from excitement and laughter, her red hair tousled and unkempt. "What happened to you?" Lissa asked her once she was through the door completely. "What happened and where did you go and why weren't you here? I was so worried!"

Rather than answering with words, Cordelia did something that Lissa had seen someone else do quite recently; unlike the time when Maribelle did it, she wasn't entirely faking her surprise when she gasped at the sight of a brilliant engagement ring on her manager's finger. "He wanted to make sure all bases were covered in case things go bad in the future," Cordelia explained, clearly still out of breath from how excited she was when the proposal happened. "I'm well aware that we've, ahem, been rushing this relationship, but when you've found the right person you just…know they're the one. While Stahl might not have been my first choice, he is the right choice."

"I'm so happy for you both, totally!" Lissa's enthusiasm was less-than-genuine, but she couldn't let that be known, not when Cordelia was as pleased as she was. "It's nice to know that you two started getting friendly because of me telling you about him, and it's really nice to know that he really loves you, but are you sure this is what you want?"

"At this point, what I truly want isn't attainable, so yes, being with Stahl is what I want." Pulling her hand back to admire how the ring shone on her finger, Cordelia gave a joyful smile. "Besides, he's brought out a side of me that I never knew I had! Who in the world knew that I could have so much fun sometimes?"

Lissa was sure that everyone was capable of having fun, and no matter what Cordelia said, she wasn't going to be so gung-ho about this new engagement. But someone else's relationship wasn't something she needed to be worrying about, not when there were other things in life that needed her focus. Things such as a regular customer whose bad attitude towards her was becoming more confusing by the interaction.

* * *

 **A/N: Well I sure hope everyone's enjoying this so far~**


	4. Rules of Engagements

Despite how rushed the news of the engagement was, there seemed to be very little on what was to follow that developed over the coming months. It wasn't every day that Lissa would ask about it, but it was close to once a week, and whenever the word "wedding" came out of her mouth, Cordelia would tense up and look visibly unsure of how to respond. It became a bit of a sore subject for her in due time—she'd been quick to get engaged, but they by no means were planning their wedding, and that was okay in her mind.

It still didn't stop Lissa from being curious about it, especially not when she was being pestered so much outside of work about another wedding that was very much in full swing of being planned. Maribelle was trying to make quick work of getting things taken care of, picking a date and a color scheme in no time, and then getting into smaller details as soon as she could. She would always turn to Lissa to help her for decision-making if needed, and Lissa would then dwell on her friend's needs far longer than she should have, therefore making weddings be on her mind when she would go into work and see Cordelia who _should_ have been having one of her own as well. "But don't you want to at least start planning it before it's been forever?" she asked, watching Cordelia stiffen up like usual. "I would really think you'd want to…"

"Lissa, my friend, you don't know what it's like to be in the shoes of a military bride. There's so much that could change in an instant, and we don't want to make plans when they could be pushed aside for any reason at all." Cordelia sighed as she spoke, leaning up against the counter. "I understand that your friend is also marrying a military man, but she seems to be okay with flirting with the inevitable, rather than playing it safe."

"Or maybe she just knows that nothing weird's going to happen around here anytime soon! All I'm saying is, maybe you and Maribelle should meet up sometime and get cracking on your plans." Smiling and turning away, Lissa didn't stay focused on her friend long enough to see the weary smile she'd put on her face at the suggestion. "Or maybe you could come over to my place and we could do it instead! I'm not any expert on weddings, no way, but I've had a hand in a few of them."

"And I've heard that the ones you've had a hand in either went spectacularly or will go flawlessly when they happen, yes, you've told me this already. I appreciate your eager enthusiasm, but Stahl and I are approaching this the way we see fit, and no poking or prodding from you will make me reconsider a thing." She sighed again, loudly enough that Lissa considered looking back at her for a moment before shrugging it off.

The shrugging off came because, as it tended to happen, someone was entering the shop at that moment, and Lissa had come to understand the rule of no personal conversations with customers present fairly well. Even when the customer was someone that both she and Cordelia knew well. "By chance, have either of you seen a tall, dark-haired man in here today?" Chrom asked, giving his sister a small wave and Cordelia a polite bow of his head. "I've been given word that this man comes in here quite frequently, and—"

"Either you're talking about Frederick, who came in here with you this morning, or you're talking about Lon'qu, and I shudder to think what all you've heard about him." Returning the bow as quickly as she could, Cordelia stood tall and gave a nonchalant wave towards Lissa. "He comes in here and has a bit of a problem with your sister every time they interact."

"Clearly I'm not talking about Frederick, but thanks for the clarification. Yes, the name Lon'qu seems to ring a bell in regards to who I'm looking for." Lifting his hand to roughly mark the other man's height, Chrom waited for Cordelia to nod in approval at his motion, which she did after a few moments of judging. "Then that settles it! You at least know of the guy I'm looking for, so tell me, has he been here today?"

"Not that I recall. Lissa, has he?" By directing the question to Lissa, Cordelia was putting Chrom's problem on her shoulders instead; the blonde shook her head and said nothing in response, not wanting to be the one to break the news to her brother. "Er, I'm taking the silence to mean that she hasn't seen him either. This is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what it is you're looking for."

Chrom gave a heavy sigh, fishing a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and setting it on the counter between him and Cordelia. When he unfolded it and reached for a pen, she looked over it to see that it was a list of locations around town, almost all located in the same area as the coffee shop. "He didn't show up to a meeting this morning, and some of the commanders are worried that he bailed out for something better. I have hope that he didn't, but with you not having seen him, that's one less place he could be." His hand grabbed at nothing, all pens just out of his grasp (no thanks to Cordelia, who moved the pen cup when she saw him reach for it). "Gods damn it, Cordelia, let me use a pen to cross this place off!"'

"Wait, Lon'qu just straight-up disappeared? What a strange guy!" Lissa cupped her face with her hands, genuinely shocked at what she'd just heard. "Yesterday he was telling me about how nice Ferox is at this time of year, and now today he's gone!"

"…Lissa, perhaps, do you think he might have gone home?" Giving up his attempt to get a pen, Chrom crumpled his paper back up and shoved it right back where it had come from. "That's an awfully timely comment for him to have made, and it might just answer where he disappeared to. But if he went home, the questions of how he got there and how no one knew anything of it remain, but those can be answered later I suppose." He looked up at and smiled at his sister, her shock still apparent in her face. "Don't look so bummed about him being gone. If what Cordelia said has even an ounce of truth, then him being gone might just be best for you."

"I guess so, but he's always been kind of interesting, even if he's been super rude." Lissa's cheeks puffed out at the thought of some of that rudeness she'd experienced at the hands and tongue of that man. "I hope he's not, like, dead or anything."

"I hope not as well, he's a great asset to the military, regardless of where his country loyalties lie." Chrom started heading for the door, but stopped and turned back towards the counter when a thought crossed his mind. "Say, Cordelia, what is it with this place and attracting rude men? I thought that one that came in all the time while I worked here was bad enough, but now there's another one?"

Cordelia stifled a laugh at Chrom's question, trying to not poke fun at his slight ignorance at the matter. "It's the same man, believe it or not." She watched the light of realization brighten in Chrom's eyes, until he was laughing at himself. "I can't believe you separated yourself so far from what happened here that you didn't stop to question the familiarity of that foreign name!"

"It never dawned on me that it could possibly be the same man! It was my last week of working here when he started coming in, there were a lot of other things that I chose to remember from that time that didn't involve putting his name to the description I was given." Turning once more towards the door, Chrom gave a final laugh before he left, leaving in his wake the two ladies who were now questioning if they were going to see their unfriendly regular that day, or ever again at all.

As was expected, he didn't come in for his regular order that day, nor did he come in again in the following days. Every afternoon, whether she meant to be or not, Lissa was waiting to see him, hoping that he'd come in with another scowl and another rude comment towards her, but when he didn't she couldn't help but feel saddened at the news. Eventually, as time wore on and his presence became less and less of something she remembered, her mind went back to dwelling on the one thing it had focused on before: that, of course, was weddings.

Since she no longer had Lon'qu around to distract and frustrate her, Lissa would spend her afternoons coming up with cute suggestions to make to Cordelia in regards to her upcoming wedding, thinking up new ideas while doing her cleaning and making drinks. The suggestions fell on deaf ears, as Cordelia still didn't want to spare any thought towards the concept of her own wedding, but it was still a fun little game for Lissa to play with her manager whenever she got the chance. "Why don't you spend your time doing this to your friend instead of me?" Cordelia eventually asked, finding no more enjoyment in Lissa's little game. "I'm sure she would appreciate your wedding ideas, given how into the conversations you get with her fiancé when he comes in."

Lissa laughed to herself, thinking back onto all the times in recent memory where she'd derailed any sort of conversation the group of men that came in every morning tried to have just because she couldn't hold in her wedding ideas. "Well, I would talk about it with yours but I know you don't want me to talk about it with you, so why would he be any different?"

"This is true, but how can you be certain that Frederick is passing on your great ideas to his sweetheart?" Cordelia raised a good point, but it was one that Lissa had no concern about—she knew that every little suggestion she made towards one person was going straight to the other, as she was getting asked to elaborate on her ideas almost every evening. When she told Cordelia that, the redhead sighed. "So she does hear them after all and yet you're still bursting with more ideas."

"I can't help it that I'm just really excited for all of you, and that I want to be as helpful as I can!" Taking the slightest amount of offense at what had been said, Lissa gave a fake sniffle. "But I get it, if you don't wanna have me helping you out, I guess it's rude if I just keep on trying to help anyway. Even though I'm not sure why you two got engaged if you're just not going to get married."

"It's a complicated situation and I would love to get married with a big wedding like your friend is, but it's just not in the cards, not for right now. Someday in the near future though, I hope." Cordelia's eyes shifted towards the floor, and it was hard to hear it but she actually sniffled, unlike the faked one Lissa had given moments before. "It's just, you find someone that's worth spending the rest of your life with, and things that follow don't always work out the way you'd like them to. Does that make any sense to you, Lissa? Can you relate to that?"

"I guess I really can't," Lissa said after a pause, during which she really thought about what Cordelia was saying. "I've never exactly been in your shoes before, so how would I relate to exactly what you're going through?"

There was another sniffle, followed by Cordelia wiping at her eyes; Lissa thought that her unintentional ignorance had upset her manager, but then she heard the genuine laughter she gave off, confusing her as to what was happening. "I didn't ask you to know what it's like to be in my shoes, although the fact that your mind jumped straight to being in the position to be waiting for a wedding is quite cute. I asked you if you knew what it's like finding someone you want to spend your life with and having it not work out."

"The only person I want to spend my life with is—oh I _get_ it now!" It was midway through her sentence that was going to proclaim self-love that Lissa caught onto what Cordelia was stealthily implying at her, and she clasped her hands gleefully at the realization. "No, I still don't know what that's like, but you're totally implying I've got some weird feelings for someone, aren't you?"

"I may or may not be implying such a thing, yes." Laughing some more, she looked back to Lissa with a smile on her face. "But if you're certain you've never felt anything like that for someone, I'll refrain from pressing the issue. Just like you should refrain from pressing the wedding issue with me."

"But Cordelia, you've got to at least be thinking about your wedding, if you're actually serious about marrying Stahl! Come on, you can't tell me that you made him go through the trouble of proposing to you so early in your relationship just to not marry him!" The smile Cordelia was giving her faded, the corners of her mouth turning down, and Lissa proceeded to frown at the change in expression. "Why do you look so sad about it? Oh gods did I hit the nail right on the head?"

Anxiously playing with her hands a bit, Cordelia shook her head and gave Lissa a reason to sigh in relief. "No, not at all. We're still quite happily together, as we will remain for the rest of our days. It's just that we're not going to have a wedding until there's nothing regarding the military that could ruin our special day, and who knows when that might be."

"Y-you mean you're not going to get married for a long time? But Cordelia, that doesn't make any sense! Why would you move so quickly just to not do anything at all?" Lissa was going wide-eyed at her friend, hoping that no one was going to walk into the shop right then so that she could get resolution to this issue without interruption. "I thought you knew exactly what you were doing, that you had a plan for everything, and that you wouldn't rush things for no reason! What's going on here?"

"Lissa, when have I ever said that he and I weren't going to get married until then? I've only said we weren't going to have a wedding until things wouldn't potentially be interrupted, but as for getting married, why, there's no reason we haven't done that already!" Cordelia stopped playing with her hands, making a somewhat dramatic movement with one of them to rest it on the counter, Lissa's eyes following its every motion. "And who's to say, quite honestly, that we haven't?"

It was then, staring intently at her friend's hand, that Lissa realized that Cordelia wasn't wearing her ring that she'd made a point to have on as often as possible. "Is that why your finger's a bit bare?" she asked, trying to make sense of everything, only for Cordelia to pull her hand back behind her to hide it. "Oh my gosh it all totally makes sense now! You don't want me talking about weddings because you aren't having one for a long time, and I took that to mean you weren't getting married, but no, it's really that you're just not having a wedding for a long time! Cordelia, when did this happen?"

"The other day, we decided it would be best to make things official before the war that's looming actually begins and he's expected to take part in it." Cordelia's cheeks were lighting up red as she spoke, her now fidgeting where she stood. "That's why I asked you to not speak so much about weddings, because I knew that we weren't to be having one right away, even if we were married, and I didn't want to question whether or not I'd made the right choice with what we did."

"I think what makes it the right choice or not is if you're happy with it, but that's still so exciting! I've only worked here, what, half a year, ish? And you've gone from not even knowing Stahl's name to being his _wife_ and that's so exciting!" Lissa was finding it hard to contain her joy, and she was beginning to bounce, her expression of excitement only adding color to Cordelia's cheeks. "Now what comes next? Since you two are married, it's totally time for you to have a baby, right?"

"Lissa! If we're insisting on waiting until nothing can go wrong with a wedding, what makes you think that that's an option here?" Now Cordelia's face was matching her hair in color, and she was hiding her face to try and conceal her embarrassment as much as possible. "We won't be doing that for quite some time, don't you worry. And before you even think about making asking about that a regular occurrence, let it be known that if I hear so much as a whisper about babies at me, I will fire you on the spot."

Lissa gasped at the seriousness of the threat, but awkwardly chuckled when she realized that Cordelia only said that because of how flustered she'd gotten. "Oh, don't worry, I won't ask about it again for a long time. Besides, why should I ask you about babies when I know someone else working here's already got one?" Her eyes looked towards the door to the kitchen, where she knew Sumia was on the other side, doing her daily baking like she always did. "If I get a need to see a baby, I'll just ask her to bring Cynthia in!"

"As long as it's not during work hours, I suppose that's an acceptable alternative to endless questions and prodding." Uncovering her face, Cordelia gave a small nod at Lissa's suggestion. "Of course, if it starts to become a distraction, kind of like how all your wedding talk had gotten, I'll have to ask you to refrain from seeing that child."

Waving her hand as if to brush that possibility away, Lissa grinned. "Now you really shouldn't worry about that, no way! I've dealt with babies before—remember, my brother's got a kid!—so I know how to keep my head about me when it comes to babies and kids. What, do you think I'm going to just, like, lose my cool if Cynthia's in here being an adorable little baby? I know better than to only focus on her!"

"Your insistence on proving that to me is only reinforcing my decision to not let these meetings happen during work hours, but go on, keep telling me how much you can handle being around her." The sarcasm in her statement was obvious, just like Lissa's inability to properly function when a child was around was. "I'm being kind to let you do this in the shop before we open, don't make me change my mind on that."

"Okay, got it!" Miming zipping her lips closed, Lissa nodded eagerly. "From this moment on, I'm done talking weddings with you, and I'm definitely done talking about babies too!" The second part might have been the more important one, but even knowing what she now knew about her manager's personal life, she still wanted to go on and on about weddings so much more than children. The need for that sort of discussion would fade in time, particularly after the looming wedding on the horizon came and went, but there were still months before that day and she needed to do something to pass the time.

Convincing Sumia to bring her daughter in before work some days was a lot harder than Lissa had expected it to be. She'd figured it would have just been as simple as asking her to do it with no explanation as to why it needed to be done, but Sumia was rather hesitant to bring Cynthia with her without knowing why. Once that explanation (or, as Lissa ended up saying, "because I need a baby but I don't have a man!") was given, she was a bit more accepting of the idea, but some ground rules that directly contrasted with the timeframe Cordelia had set needed to be made; first and foremost, since mornings were busy with baking things, Cynthia would have to stay at the shop until her father could come get her, meaning she'd be there when customers also would be.

To Lissa, it really didn't seem like it would be much of a problem, especially if it happened on a day when Cordelia didn't show up until later in the morning, and so she went ahead and set up a specific day to have Cynthia brought in. The first thing she noticed when she was standing at the front door to the coffee shop, once again locked out because Sumia was the one with the key, was that asking for the child to be brought meant that she was going to have to wait like that. If it was still summer, it wouldn't have been a problem, but with it being a chilly winter morning, she was shivering where she stood, teeth chattering as she tried to keep warm. "M-maybe it was a b-b-bad idea to do this after all," she said to herself, her breath a warm fog over her face. "Is seeing a b-baby worth this?"

The second thing she noticed was that Cynthia had grown a whole lot since the last time she'd seen her. The little girl still had to be carried by her mother, but she wasn't in the bundled carrier over Sumia's chest anymore, instead being carried over her shoulder. "I'm sorry it took me so long this morning!" Sumia apologized, unlocking the door while Cynthia's eyes focused on Lissa's face. "It's really hard to pull a sleepy little girl out of bed when she's actually sleeping, and I hate making her cry, but I had to do it…"

"It's no worries, I lived so we're all good!" Stepping inside the heated shop was lovely after having been outside so long, and Lissa was taking off her coat and getting ready for some play time with the small child as quickly as she could. "Now how's this going to go? Am I gonna be holding her again like last time, or what?"

"No, she doesn't like being held very much by strangers anymore. If you knew her better she'd love to be held by you, but since you last saw her when she was just a wee thing, she's going to want to hide from you." After locking the door to make sure no customers got in early, Sumia set her daughter down on the floor and nudged the girl with her foot to get her to do something. "She's really fond of hiding and exploring wherever she can. Just don't let her get her hands on anything, because she also really likes taking things. Kind of like her father, I suppose, but…" Her thought abruptly stopped when she saw Cynthia getting up onto her hands and knees, giggling as she did. "Oh, look! She's going to do it!"

"Gods, that's so adorable! I'm so looking forward to getting to play with her today!" Because she was still a kid at heart, and wanted to get the best vantage point for the activity, Lissa was also getting down on the floor. "This is going to be the best day ever!"

At the sight of the grown woman getting on her level, Cynthia screeched and took off like a rocket, scurrying across the shop's floor as fast as her body could take her. Lissa, not wanting to lose sight of the girl, chased her around for a few moments before it sank in that crawling like a child wasn't exactly the most comfortable or mature thing to be doing. She got back to her feet, sighing in defeat but still excited to be watching a child, and the game was on. Every step Lissa took, Cynthia would either giggle or scream and move somewhere further away, not wanting to be caught by the person watching her. And every time Cynthia would move away faster, Lissa would try that much harder to catch her, calling out soft and gentle comments that she hoped would make the child not so scared of her.

By the time the shop was opened, Lissa had made zero actual contact with the girl, and the girl had gotten herself trapped under three different chairs, only coming out whenever the blonde got too close to her. "Phew, this is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be," Lissa remarked, feigning wiping her brow. "Now all I've gotta do is wait for her dad to get her and pick her up and I'm set, I think."

And if her father had any intention of showing up at the time he was supposed to have been, what she had said would have been correct. But Sumia had failed to mention that she hadn't exactly told him to come pick up their daughter right after the store opened, meaning that until he naturally woke up and realized he was home alone, he wasn't going to know he needed to do anything. So he was unaware that he needed to get his daughter, and Lissa was now in charge of someone else's kid while also having to do her job while hopefully not getting caught doing anything out of the ordinary by her manager. She had to somehow manage to get Cynthia back behind the counter with her (a hard task as the girl still charged away from her at every moment) and not let her be seen by any of the customers, until the man who was meant to get her finally got there.

After half an hour of trying to hide the girl, she was successfully able to get her behind the counter, meaning that now as long as she didn't get under her feet, Lissa would be able to act like there wasn't a baby roaming around the place. With the first few customers who came in, she nearly stepped on little Cynthia's hands, as they were still on the floor, but by the time her regulars were filing in, she'd become an expert at dodging baby hands. "Why do you look like you've been having the time of your life today?" Chrom asked, noticing the color in his sister's cheeks, the fact that she'd been having fun quite obvious. "In all the time I worked here, I never once had a 'fun' day like you seem to be having."

"Oh, it's nothing out of the ordinary," Lissa replied, waving her hand at her brother's question. "Just me doing what I'm paid to do." If there hadn't been any sort of accompaniment to go with her statement, she would have been in the clear, but as she was speaking Cynthia decided to start a string of babbles that everyone present was able to hear. Chrom looked blankly at Lissa as she froze, her mouth opening to explain the situation but no words coming to her.

"Lissa, was that a child we heard just now? Do you need to explain something to me?"

Fearing the wrath of her protective older brother, Lissa ducked down and picked Cynthia up, setting her on the counter to show everyone. "She's not mine, I swear! I wanted to get to play with a baby and Sumia was cool enough to bring her daughter in for me to play with! Gods, please don't tell Cordelia I did this!" The plea wasn't aimed at everyone, as she knew that three-fourths of the men present wouldn't tell her manager what they were witnessing; it was the fourth man she was worried about, and he was the one most enthralled with the baby as she sat there, talking away to herself.

"I didn't know kids were that cute. I thought they were just drains on money that could be spent on better things, like food, but if that kid's that cute…" Lost in his own thoughts as he looked Cynthia over, Stahl seemed like he wasn't listening to what Lissa was begging at all, his mind too focused on the unknown cute qualities of children. It took someone smacking him upside the head to get him to come back to reality, and even then he was still spending more focus on the baby than anyone else. "Sorry, got a bit lost there. Don't tell anyone, especially not Cordelia, got it."

"Now that we've got that squared away, what's she still doing here? How are you going to keep this from Cordelia if the kid's still here?" Chrom tilted his head to one side, hoping his sister had thought her plan through well enough to give him an answer.

"You see, I don't really know," she admitted, "because Sumia said her husband would come by to pick Cynthia up but he's still not here and I'm scared he's not coming. What do I do if he doesn't show up? There's nowhere in this place big enough for me to hide a kid!"

Chrom laughed at his sister's plight, his friends all joining him. "That's your own problem, I'm afraid. Anyone who's worked with Cordelia knows that hiding something from her is next to impossible, as she'll rat you out within moments. I'm surprised you haven't figured that one out for yourself yet."

"I'm totally going to today if this cutie's dad doesn't come and get her soon!" Panic setting in, Lissa looked to her brother with a new plea forming in her mind. "Say, Chrom, what would it take for me to get you to take her to your house so her and Lucy could play? Don't you think Lucy would enjoy that?"

"It would take more than you'd be able to give, as I'm headed to work and Lucina doesn't need any child to play with, especially not one that would be at the house without parental permission." He watched his sister go to make a correction to his point, so he hushed her. "No, asking Sumia right now doesn't change anything, so don't even suggest it. You got yourself into this mess, and as an adult it's your job to get yourself right back out of it."

She knew he was right, it was her fault this was happening and it was her responsibility to figure out how to fix things, but if there was one outcome she was dreading facing, it was Cordelia coming into the shop with Cynthia still there. There had to be some way to find somewhere else for the girl to go, so that no rules were broken and everything was done as it was supposed to have been, but she was blanking on what she could do. In a moment of panic and terror like the one she was in, all Lissa could think to do was beg the gods above to shine their light on her.

She'd been hoping that the light would be someone helpful, like Maribelle or even the child's father, but the "blessing" she was given was one that she couldn't have expected at all. It came in two parts, the first being a call from Cordelia that she was going to be coming in later than normal due to unforeseen circumstances, and the second being a familiar face walking into the shop that she hadn't seen in a long while.

"Why are you staring at me like you've seen a ghost?" Lon'qu asked, his voice flat as always. When he wasn't answered with anything but a breathless exclamation of his name, he furrowed his eyebrows in Lissa's direction. "Yes, that is who I am. Surprised you bothered remembering my name."

"I don't think I could forget it, honestly," she told him, her mind spacing on the fact that she was in charge of a child as she took a step closer to the counter that Lon'qu was approaching. "And when you just kind of disappeared like you did, it really did worry me! What happened to you? You look, well, you look just like always, but there's gotta be a reason for you leaving!" She was tracing him with her eyes, focusing on every detail of his body that she'd noticed in prior encounters. "Please, if it's nothing bad, will you tell me it?"

He gave a long sigh, his ears perking up at the sound of a child's babbling that he didn't see the source to. "I'll tell you my story if you explain why a baby is present."

"A baby…?" She blinked a few times before hearing Cynthia for herself, and she hesitantly laughed once she remembered. "Oh right, I'm kind of babysitting because I needed some baby time in my life and the kid's dad forgot to come get her. Easy story. Now tell yours."

"It's surprising you haven't heard of this already, it's become quite the story throughout Ylisse, from what your brother told me when I returned." At the mention of Chrom, Lissa was reminded of that time he'd come in looking for Lon'qu, and she was sure that she was about to find out why that had been. "I was called back home to Ferox for a special mission that required extreme focus. Until the day I returned here to Ylisstol, my job was in complete secrecy. No one aside from myself and my Khan, my commander, was allowed to know what I was doing back in Ferox."

"But you're allowed to talk about it now?" When Lon'qu nodded, Lissa smiled, glad that he was going to be divulging such information with her, even if it wasn't supposed to be secret any longer. "Okay, so you got called home for a secret mission! What kind of mission was it? It had to be a cool one, right?"

He looked ashamed to have to be admitting to what he'd done, as he dropped his voice to a quiet tone as he spoke. "I went home to actively protest and attempt to prevent a union between a Feroxi woman and a Plegian man from happening."

"You tried to break up a marriage? Why would you do that?" To say Lissa was shocked at what she'd just heard was an understatement, but at least she now understood why people were talking about his actions. He'd gone straight-lipped at her questioning, causing her to break into pleading. "Please, you've got me all curious now, you've gotta go ahead and tell me why you did it!"

"My commander, that was one of his closest allies going off and marrying herself to someone loyal to another country's army. He didn't want to lose her in case of war breaking out, and so he entrusted one of his greatest soldiers to try and put a stop to things." Lon'qu still had his lips in a mostly straight line, but Lissa could tell that he was trying his hardest to keep the corners from turning downward. "She's a tolerable woman, quite shy and afraid of attention from anyone, but she seemed to have no clue that her actions could have negative consequences in the case of war."

"You're telling me that a military commander wanted his friend to be unhappy just because her marriage could go bad if war breaks out? That doesn't make any sense!" Lissa threw her hands into the air, laughing as she did. "You're being really funny right now, and you don't have to lie to me like this!"

Lon'qu took in a quick breath, his whole body tensing at the accusation of lying. "This is the honest truth, ask anyone with any rank and they will tell you exactly what I've shared here. The woman in question, she's considered a 'morale booster' to the Feroxi forces, and losing her if war with Plegia began would be akin to an attack on the inside. Basilio was right in calling me home to attempt to stop things, and my failure will have many negative effects if the looming war comes any closer."

"Man, and here I was, thinking you just left to get away from me and our problems," Lissa mumbled, dropping her arms once she'd realized he was being completely serious. "At least then it wouldn't be such a bad thing to see you again."

"When I failed my mission, I was allowed to return here to Ylisstol, much like I would have had the mission been successful. You would have been seeing me again here regardless of outcome, although a better outcome would have been preferred." The straight-lipped expression disappeared, replaced by a relaxed one that still showed neither happiness nor sadness, but it was something a lot more calming to look at. "I do hope that you have not forgotten my normal order, despite my disappearance."

She nodded, ready to get back to work and to the normal events of old. "I could never forget your simple order, not in a million years! Kind of like how I don't think I could forget—" Her last words were going to be "your face", but the door opened and her attention turned from the man at her counter to the redhead walking in to work for the first time that day, and she gasped at the sight. With Lon'qu there to distract her, she had forgotten mostly about the problem that was Cynthia crawling around at her feet, and now Cordelia was there to get her in trouble.

Or was she? She was just as shocked and curious about the regular customer's reappearance as Lissa had been, choosing to stay on the outside of the counter to talk to him rather than coming behind it and finding a little girl there when she shouldn't have been. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation that Cordelia and Lon'qu got into, pertaining to his return home that she'd been hearing about all day, the door opened again and this time it was the man responsible for the child Lissa was still watching; in absolute silence she was able to hand his daughter off to him and he took his leave without anyone noticing.

However, when the doorbell went off on his departure, Cordelia turned to look and see what she'd missed, seeing the man walking away from her shop with his child in his arms. "Was Gaius just in here without me knowing it?" she asked Lissa, who shook her head rapidly, trying not to smile as she covered that lie. "Something tells me that he was, but I'll believe you this time, Lissa."

Before she turned back to continue talking to Lon'qu, he actually looked over at Lissa and gave her a quick wink, letting her know that he knew what she'd just done. Her breath caught in her chest at the sight, and once again she was hoping and praying that he was going to keep her secret to himself. She had to believe he would, after all, he'd been the answer to her earlier prayers, hadn't he?

* * *

For being so intricately planned, the wedding that Maribelle had worked so hard on making perfect for herself got postponed on two different occasions, and if it hadn't been for sheer luck the third time would also have had to have been changed. It was almost as if she hadn't once considered her to-be spouse's job as a detriment to her plan-making, something that, after a few long conversations with Cordelia pertaining to her personal decision regarding her own wedding, Lissa had really pushed for her friend to try and start doing. But Maribelle was stubborn and wanted things her way, not the way someone else suggested, and therefore she caused mass confusion regarding when, exactly, her wedding was supposed to be.

When the actual event finally happened, half of the guests were unable to attend due to the ceremony being on a day they hadn't prepared for, leaving both the bride and the groom (but mostly the bride) feeling a little unloved by friends and family. Even with the date changing on her so many times, Lissa made it a point to be able to be there for her best friend, and she tried her hardest to make up for all those people missing out on what turned out to be a rather over-the-top wedding.

It was something that Lissa wasn't going to stop thinking about, no matter how hard she tried to move on to other subjects in her mind. She rather enjoyed dwelling on events that made her happy like that, but when those events seeped into her already-strange dreams, she didn't enjoy it quite as much. Dreaming about her best friend's wedding wasn't weird, not when she'd been doing it so much already while she'd been helping plan it, but when she'd gotten to see the ceremony and the actual events could invade her sleep, that was when things got weird.

She woke up the morning after the wedding, minutes before her alarm was set to go off, and found her face buried in her pillow, her arms holding it close to her as if it was a real person. And based on the dream she vividly remembered having, it was a stand-in for someone she knew, someone that by all means should not have been part of the dream she'd just experienced. She'd dreamt of marrying friends of her brother's before—although in this case, perhaps the term to use would have been "her friend's husband"—but she'd never once had a dream where she'd switched entire places with someone for something.

Imagining what that wedding would have been like standing in Maribelle's position was one thing, and it was a completely inoffensive thing at that. If that was where the dream had ended, she would have called her best friend and told her about it to laugh over how silly of a dream it was. But it wasn't where it had ended, and she was embarrassing herself just thinking about what other events had transpired in her dream world. She had woken up kissing her pillow for a reason, and the reason _wasn't_ that she'd been dreaming about kissing newly-married Frederick.

Somewhere in the middle of the dream's nuptials, he'd gone from being himself to being another man that she'd come to know pretty well, and when it came time for the groom to kiss his bride, it wasn't the right groom at all. Fitting, as it wasn't the right bride either, but Lissa had grown used to dreams where she locked lips with the same already-taken people over and over again. She hadn't ever found herself kissing Lon'qu in a dream before, and while there was certainly a first time for everything, she wished the first time for that hadn't ended in a drool-covered pillow.

* * *

 **A/N: While it doesn't heavily involve her (well, kinda), I'm still glad I'm able to post this chapter on Cordelia's birthday c:**


	5. Change for the Better

Without thinking about what she was doing, Lissa tossed her pillow against her wall, jumping out of bed to try and remove herself from the situation as fast as she could. Like almost every time she had a dream involving real people, however, thoughts on the matter stuck with her deep into her day, even after she'd shown up to work and had started serving customers. The fact that she had to face three-fourths of a group of regulars because their other member was off celebrating his honeymoon only somewhat made her remember that she'd actually dreamt about marrying him, but seeing those guys wasn't the hard thing to face (even if Chrom knew just by looking at his sister that she'd had a weird dream).

It wasn't until Lon'qu came in later that day, just like he always did, that she really had to face that she, deep down, had some sort of mixed feelings towards him. "You've failed to ask me for my order once again," he flatly said after spending several minutes at the counter with Lissa staring at him. "Naturally, you probably remember it like you remember your own name, but you should still ask to be polite."

"I'm so sorry, I'm just thinking about a lot of things right now!" It wasn't an actual lie, as her silence was related back to thoughts, but it wasn't so much multiple thoughts as it was one singular one. "You know how things get when you've got a lot going on, right?"

"I would assume I do, yes. It's quite hard to keep everything straight when you have so much going on in life." Lon'qu spoke with some thinly-veiled sarcasm that Lissa quickly picked up, her face turning bright red at his words. "Don't take that as an insult. It's not meant to be one. I'm positive a young woman such as yourself has a lot going on, and you've been missing quite a bit of work lately, which only further cements my beliefs on the matter."

"Quite a bit? I've only missed, like, three days and they weren't even in a row!" Lissa slammed her hands down on the counter in frustration at how he considered that to be "quite a bit". It really wasn't, in her mind, and she would make sure he knew why that was. "I've just been dealing with my super best friend getting married, and that takes a lot of time and focus, you know. Or maybe you don't know that, since I think the only wedding you've ever been to was one you were trying to keep from happening!"

Lon'qu closed his eyes and sighed, using one hand to rub at the side of his head. "You're becoming accusatory for no reason, Lissa. I know from stories that proper weddings take a lot of time, and as you've never been missing from work for no reason prior to this, I believe you without your false accusations."

"Sorry, sorry, just got a little…eager to fight you about things," she sheepishly said, turning to try and hide how red her face had gotten over the course of their exchange. "It's been a crazy couple of days and I'm still just trying to take it all in without getting too overwhelmed. At this time yesterday, I was actually part of a real wedding that I'd helped plan and put together, and now today I'm back at work doing my normal business. Life's kind of weird, don't you think?" She was trying to make small talk to apologize for her previous behavior, something that she'd learned to do from interacting with him. As far as she could remember, he hadn't completely apologized for being rude to her in the past, so she wasn't going to jump to truly apologize to him for anything.

He seemed to know that he wasn't actually getting an apology, although he wasn't the kind of guy to expect one. "Life's very weird. Why, yesterday when you were away at that wedding, I had a nice, long conversation with Cordelia regarding you and certain quirks to your personality that we've both noticed. It was nice to hear someone you respect telling me things that I had noticed for myself, such as your natural kindness and your quickness to become embarrassed whenever you make a mistake."

"Hey, I don't make a lot of mistakes!" Lissa's voice raised a lot higher than she'd intended for it to, as she knew she was only trying to make herself sound better than she actually was. How dare her manager talk about her with this guy without her being present to witness it? She would have loved to hear all the things, both good and bad, that Lon'qu had to say about her—particularly if he mentioned any traits of hers that he found endearing. Was that even possible, for him to like anything about a woman like her? "I just make a couple, and I'm scared to know which ones of those you've picked up on!"

"The one where you ignore me frequently, to start." Dropping his hand onto the counter in front of Lissa's, Lon'qu smirked at her as she gasped at the reminder that she did have a bit of a habit of doing that, whether intentionally or not. "Not to mention that you occasionally mess up even the simplest of orders, and on several instances I've witnessed you paying for my drinks rather than charging me for them."

"That's not even a mistake there! That's how we give free things, we pay for it ourselves! Cordelia promised you free drinks and I have to cover the charge somehow!" If those were the mistakes he raised with her boss, Lissa was proud that they weren't really big ones, but the fact that he felt he needed to bring those up stung her a bit. "Come on, you've got to say you're joking about having talked to her about that!"

"No jokes here," he replied, moving his hand to point towards the coffee machine behind her, "and you're once again neglecting to make my order." Another gasp escaped her as she scrambled to get things taken care of, but for the entirety of the time she was preparing his drink and getting his snack, all she could think about was not how he'd talked to Cordelia about her, but rather how his face in her dream had looked just like the one staring her down just then. She'd managed to get every detail about him down in her mind, and that was either a good thing or a bad one.

Only time would tell her the answer to that, and she was sure it was going to be a long wait to find out.

* * *

The one-year anniversary of Lissa starting work at the coffee shop came before she realized it, the passing of so much time not having registered with her until she showed up for work that morning and found a cake celebrating the occasion there waiting for her. So much had happened over the course of the year that time seemed to have stood still for her, even though she'd gone through so many things, met so many people, and had a whole list of experiences to look back on. "I hope that if I'm still working here next year, I can say just as much happened over the next twelve months as it did over the past twelve," she said, before cutting into the cake. "Because I don't think I've ever had so much happen to me in my life!"

She might have hoped for that, but it wasn't in the cards for her, and when the next year went by without anything of note happening in both her life and the world around her, she found herself wishing for more excitement in her life over the following year. She'd grown too used to her regulars coming in every day, their stories beginning to turn stale. Seeing the seasons change wasn't as fun the second time around, not when she knew that winter brought a slow season to the shop that she didn't want to deal with. And when there wasn't much in the way of romance to watch blossoming around her, what was she supposed to gush and fawn over?

The start of her third year at the shop was, hopefully, going to be the start of the best year of working there. Cordelia and Sumia both had told her that when they'd reached their third year of working, things changed for the better—that had been the year when Sumia had fallen in love, and Cordelia had joined the military as a reserve member at right about the start of her third work year. Neither of them were expecting something as big as one of those events to happen over the course of the year for Lissa, but they still had just as high hopes as she did that something would happen that would make her never forget that year.

It wasn't even a full week after the two-year anniversary celebration that one such event occurred, an event that Lissa would always remember as long as she lived. For months prior, the whispers of war had picked up in intensity once more, and she'd been dealing with her brother and his friends coming in talking about what could very well be happening in their lives in the near future. On one particular day, however, they came in and there was no talk of war or fighting; in fact, they were almost completely disconnected from the shop atmosphere, not making any small talk at all.

"Come on, guys, what's going on?" Lissa asked as she handed them their drinks that she'd gotten incredibly great at making for them each and every day. "I've never had you come in here while I'm working being this quiet. Something's going on and I want to know what!"

"Lissa, this is nothing you want to hear anything about," Chrom finally told her, taking a long sip of his drink before he spoke. "Trust me, it's not anything happy and we'd rather not discuss it if we don't have to."

Him denying her information only made her want to know more. "But Chrom, you have to tell me something! You can't come in being a bunch of grumbly men and expect me to not get curious about it! What if, after I get off, I go to your house and ask Robin what's going on? Do you think she'll tell me?"

"She hasn't been told a word of it either, so no, she won't tell you anything. However, you asking her will cause her to ask me, and when I am forced to tell her she'll become upset, and the last thing you want is for me to upset her." He shook his head. "The last time Robin cried at something, we couldn't get Lucina to stop being upset for weeks. If she hears this, I might not have a happy daughter again for a _long_ time."

"You're not the only one who has to find a way to break this news gently to someone, you know," Frederick said, nudging Chrom's side with his elbow. "Why, I think you telling Robin will go over much, much better than me having to tell Maribelle. I can already imagine how she's going to react and I know it's not going to be pretty."

"We can't tell Lissa now anyway," Stahl added, looking towards the blonde at the counter with a sad expression on his face. "Even though Cordelia won't be coming in today, I don't want Lissa calling her to tell her the second we're gone. I've already planned how I'm going to explain everything to her, and it involves a nice dinner that I'll make specially for her!"

Although his voice tried to sound happy, his expression showed that he was anything but, and Lissa's heart sank at the sight. However, she wasn't in any position to make comments on the matter at hand, as she had no idea what it really was. From the sounds of it, it wasn't pretty, but the extent to the ugliness couldn't be determined by their vague words. "Hey, at least you guys didn't have t'see someone cryin' that you ain't ever seen cryin' before when you found out. Dunno why she was even gettin' teary at the idea of havin' to go, but—" There was certainly supposed to be more to what Vaike was saying, but Chrom's hand shot to cover his mouth and muffle his words before he could get more out.

Lissa had heard enough, though, to stand a little taller and look more concerned at what she now knew. "They're sending people out to war, aren't they?" she quietly asked, trying to avoid making direct eye contact with anyone there. "And that's why you all are so solemn, because you're going to be leaving your wives behind to go fight!"

"This wasn't how I'd wanted you to find that out, but yes. There's inevitable war between Ylisse and Plegia and we've got to fight in it." After smacking his friend for ruining the news, Chrom stood up from his seat he'd taken and walked to the counter, reaching across it to grab his sister's hand as her eyes began to fill with tears. "Don't worry, we'll all be fine in the end, it's just our duty to go out to the battlefield and defend what we love. There'll be no way any of us don't come back in one piece."

"Saying those sorts of things just makes it look like you're planning on dying out there!" she sobbed, letting the tears fall freely. "I can't lose my brother like I already lost my sister! Please, Chrom, you've got power in the military, make them change their minds!"

"You won't lose me, thank the gods, because I'm 'too essential' to the way the military runs to be sent out like an ordinary soldier." Chrom's voice was dropping low, not wanting to be overheard by his friends. "And we shouldn't lose them either. It should be a bloodless war, if war does actually start."

She blinked, tears dripping from her eyelashes and hitting the counter. "Why does there have to be war? Can't you talk it out with the Plegians?"

"We can't, and neither can the Feroxi leaders. It's war or nothing, and we're not going to sit around idly and let them strike first. We're going to make the necessary moves to make sure Ylisse remains the great land it is." He squeezed his sister's hand a bit. "I promise you with everything I have that, when the time comes for me to go out into the field, I will come home just like my friends will. None of us will die in this war. There's too much for all of us to live for."

"I understand why you didn't want to talk about it now," she sniffled, using her free hand to wipe tears from her cheeks. "I'll not tell anyone so you all can do it, and I'll just try to keep my spirits up that something, anything, will come and stop this before it starts."

He let go of her hand, stepping back from the counter. "We've all been hoping that would be the case, but war's inevitable at this point. Someday you'll understand why that is, Lissa." The look of pure sadness in Chrom's eyes matched with the sadness his friends all had in their faces, and when they left a few minutes later she just stood there and cried at how serious things had turned in the world. War had always been a rumor that people had spread, but now it was coming to reality.

But even as bad as she thought it was, her brother having to be part of it, she knew that others were going to have it worse, particularly ones married to soldiers who would be heading out in the near future. She wasn't aware of how badly timed the war was for some of them, though—but later that day, before closing but after many people around town were getting off work, she was treated to finding out how bad it was. Her mind was already a bit shaken due to having learned about the impending war for herself, and coupled with the fact that her other regular didn't show up (most likely having been called back to Ferox in preparation for mobilizing as a soldier), Lissa was not having the greatest of days at all. So when the shop's doorbell rang and she saw Frederick coming inside once more, she wasn't really in the mood to get perky at seeing him. "Hello again, Lissa," he greeted once he came up to the counter. "Mind helping me with something?"

"Um, sure, I think," she said, trying to look him in the eyes but failing at it. The last thing she wanted was to start crying again at the sight of her friend's husband, whom she now knew was going to be sent into war, but she could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes once more. "What do you need?"

"Don't get so choked up, going to war isn't a death sentence. I wouldn't have joined the military if I didn't feel my life was best served for protecting Ylisse. Now, to what I need help with, I have to break this news to Maribelle and you and I both know that she will become a teary mess when she hears it." He coughed, trying to make their exchange a bit less awkward but only making it worse. "Lissa, by chance, could you make me her favorite drink so I can at least treat her to that? It's last minute so I know I won't be able to find any lavish gifts to appease her with, but this might be helpful."

"Yeah, I suppose I can make a drink for her." It took a moment of thinking back for Lissa to know what to make, Maribelle not having come into the shop for a drink in a long while, but when she felt she had the correct drink in mind and went to reach for the coffee, Frederick coughed again. "Hm? Am I doing something wrong…?"

"You're reaching for the regular coffee and I cannot allow you to do that." She was raising her eyebrows at his sudden disapproval, ready to tell him that that's what she'd given Maribelle every time she had gotten this drink, when he went wide-eyed and covered his face with one hand. "I…mean, it's rather late in the day and I don't need her not only upset but rendered unable to sleep due to the caffeine, you know?"

"I don't think that's what you're really implying with that, but I don't want to accuse you of, oh, I don't know, telling me something I shouldn't know." Lissa reached for the other coffeepot instead, Frederick's overbearing gaze watching her until she'd poured it into the proper cup. "Seriously, no one worries over anyone's caffeine intake, even if it's late in the day like it is now, unless there's something going on."

He gritted his teeth for a moment as he contemplated how to answer her. "You've already learned one thing today, I don't need to tell you another one, no matter how much you beg and plead for me to do it."

"If you don't tell me, I'll just ask Maribelle myself." It hadn't dawned on her that if what she was suspecting was going on was the real deal, she hadn't already been told and therefore Maribelle might not have wanted to tell her yet, but she was too curious for what was happening to not at least try to get the news out of someone. "Come on, it can't be that big of a deal, can it?"

"It can be a big deal, and it is. Just make the drink so I can be on my way."

"You're not normally this afraid to say things unless Chrom's around to hear them. Besides, you're acting like I can't just guess what it is anyway, and you've given me a really big clue as to what it might be." She waggled a finger in Frederick's direction, causing him to sigh, while she put together the drink for him. When she was done, she slid it across the counter, took his money, and cheerfully told him, "There, now you've got your one specially decaf drink to take home to your wife. I sure hope that the caffeine in all that chocolate in there isn't going to do what you were afraid the coffee itself would do to her."

"I'm not afraid of it doing anything to her." He spoke without thinking of the consequences of his wording, and when he saw the look of excitement on Lissa's face, he knew that she had read deeply into what he'd just said. "That's not—I didn't—Lissa, please, don't assume anything based on what's happened here tonight. It's been a long day full of bad things and I need this to go over well."

"And you don't want to keep her up all night thinking about it, I gotcha." Now waggling her finger _and_ clicking her tongue a bit at him, Lissa closed the register and handed him his change. "Tell me how it goes. Ooh, or better yet, have her tell me how it goes! I want to know all the details, especially since we both know there's more to this than you're telling me right now."

His sigh grew deeper. "I'm being serious, Lissa. Don't assume anything because of a misworded statement. There is nothing going on that you need to worry about, aside from what you've already been explicitly told." He stuffed the change in his pocket and grabbed the drink, heading for the door. Before he left, though, he turned back to look at her as she started taking apart machines to begin closing. "But since you asked, I'll make sure to have Maribelle tell you what happens."

"That better not be all she tells me!" she called out at him, hearing his groan at her words. "I'm being serious, if she tells me anything at all it better be what you totally implied at me tonight!" Almost dropping part of a machine in her excitement, Lissa wanted to rush through her closing duties to get home and impatiently wait for any news at all, but something told her that wouldn't be a good idea. After he'd left, she went and locked the door for the night and did her work just like normal, getting out at the same time she always did when she was in charge of closing—an activity she'd begun to be doing a lot more than she used to.

Walking home in the still-bright light, the sun still hours from setting there in Ylisstol, she wondered just how long it would be before she was given the news of what was going down between her best friend and her husband, in regards to his military commitments. Knowing Maribelle, it shouldn't have been too long after the conversation that she'd be sending out messages to her waiting friend, so it shocked Lissa when she never got those messages. Not a single one. She'd stayed up far past when she should have been in bed, waiting for something that was never coming, and that night was full of half-hearted attempts to sleep.

Lissa showed up at work the next morning incredibly tired and heartbroken at the fact that her best friend hadn't said a word to her. She let herself in the shop, her personal key dangling around her neck, and was greeted by Cordelia already standing at the counter, having set everything up for the day. "Why hello there, Lissa," she said with a small wave, one that the blonde returned. "I'm sure you're surprised that I'm here this early when it's your day to open, but there was some serious business I had to take care of this morning. I needed to get away from my house to do it, and here's the best place I could think of."'

"What kind of serious business?" Lissa asked, looking her manager over a bit, noting that she looked awfully pale and like she'd been crying—understandable, as she would have just heard the news of the military deployments the night before. "It's not, like, firing someone or anything like that, right?"

"Ha, quite the opposite, in fact. I fear that, with the upcoming departure of so many military units, we're going to become swamped by spouses looking for a shoulder to cry on, and so I'm planning on hiring someone new to help us out around here." Watching as Lissa's eyes widened at the sound of a new co-worker, Cordelia smiled. "I'm glad to see you're taking that news well. Sumia was worried you would feel I'm trying to replace you, but I promise, it's nothing to do with you that drives me to make this decision."

"What you said is a really good reason to want to hire some new, I think!" Putting her hand to her mouth as she actually thought it over, Lissa's still-wide eyes tried to meet Cordelia's, but the redhead was quickly moving her focus elsewhere. "Hey, can I ask you something? How'd you take the whole 'war' thing last night?"

Cordelia shrugged, still not looking anywhere in Lissa's direction. "I'd already known about it, being a member of the military myself. Stahl had forgotten that I would have been told at roughly the same time he had been, and so we just had a nice dinner together last night and talked about what him leaving means."

"Wait, what does it mean? And why did you know when he did?" Lissa began stroking her chin, falling deeper in thought. "Y-you aren't leaving too, are you?"

"No, thank the gods. It was offered as a choice, all of us in the reserve service becoming active members to assist in fighting if and when the time comes, but I chose to stay here rather than potentially go." The relief in Cordelia's voice made Lissa smile, although there was something odd about what she'd just said. Rather than ask about it, Lissa tried to play her curiosities off by focusing on work instead, but when she went to get behind the counter, Cordelia stopped her. "Why don't you clean the tables right now, to make sure they're perfectly clean for when we open? I've got paperwork back here that's classified information, and despite me trusting you I cannot let you see it."

Peering past Cordelia, Lissa didn't see a single piece of paper, let alone anything that could be considered classified, but she didn't want to argue with her manager, not when she'd seemed to have had a rough night. Although, why would she have had a rough night when she had already known the news that was broken to her? Something wasn't adding up in her mind, but she didn't want to bug Cordelia with questions on the matter, so she did as she'd been asked and began wiping all the tables until they shined like brand new. While she was doing that, Cordelia was simply watching her from behind the counter, frowning at something for a few minutes until it was time to unlock the front door to open for the day.

Within seconds of the shop being open there was someone coming inside, before Cordelia could even get back behind the counter. This someone didn't seem to care that there wasn't anyone ready to take their order, as they had other business in the shop that didn't involve ordering anything to drink. "Lissa, my dearest, I have so much I've got to tell you!" Maribelle screeched, catching Lissa by complete surprise. "Sit, sit, please! We've simply _got_ to talk before it gets busy in here!"

"I don't know if I can do that," she replied, looking back towards Cordelia, who was shaking her head disapprovingly. "You know I'm not supposed to chat with you while I'm working."

"And who's going to stop us?" Also looking to Cordelia, Maribelle's face lit up in a smile. "Oh, why hello there! How are you feeling today? I'd heard that—" She was cut off by Cordelia loudly shushing her, waving a hand in front of her throat as a sign for Maribelle to stop talking. "—okay, okay, I'll not mention that. Gods, and here I was thinking that you'd have told Lissa by now."

"What are you two talking about?" Lissa's eyebrows raised as she looked between the other two ladies in the room, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "Why do you two have a secret you've got between you that I'm not part of? I didn't even know you two talked to each other!"

"We don't normally talk to each other, no," Cordelia said, her eyes narrowing at Maribelle, "but given recent events she's been coming to me for some advice that, through word of mouth, she'd been told I could give. Even though I would hardly consider myself an expert of anything relating to _that_."

Just as confused as she had been before that explanation, Lissa continued looking between them, waiting for someone to elaborate further. When no one did, she sighed and put her rag down on the table she had been cleaning. "You're keeping secrets from me and it's not fair! Please, someone, just tell me what's going on!"

She had figured that one of them would take charge and explain, most likely Maribelle, so it came as a surprise when the two ladies, their eyes locked with the other's, simultaneously raised a hand to point at the other and said, with varying degrees of enthusiasm in their voices, "Lissa, she's pregnant!"

If she hadn't already dropped her rag, it certainly would have been dropped then. Instead, Lissa was grabbing her cheeks, just trying to make sense of what she'd just heard both of them say about the other. "Okay, I kind of had the news spoiled about one of you," she admitted, her voice a lot higher than she'd intended for it to be, as she looked to Maribelle with an excited but apologetic expression, "but I didn't say anything because I wanted to hear you tell me to confirm it!"

"It must have been from Frederick when he came in last night. I told him not to let it slip to you before I was ready to tell you, but…" Maribelle shrugged, her face lit up with a grin. "There's no time like now to let you know, I suppose!"

"And I'm super happy that you've actually told me!" Dropping her hands from her cheeks, Lissa then addressed Cordelia, who was still standing behind the counter, looking shocked at what had just unfolded. "As for you, how have you worked alongside me for…well, however long you've known and _not_ told me? You know I love babies!"

"Like Maribelle, I'd been waiting until I was ready to tell you before I had to, but thanks to a whole list of circumstances, that moment came upon us a whole lot sooner." Cordelia's lips were cemented in a frown, clearly unhappy with what she'd just had to do. "It would have been lovely for each of us to have this moment to ourselves, rather than sharing it, but it is what it is, I suppose."

"I'm so excited for the both of you!" Lissa crooned, her hands going to her cheeks once more. "Oh gods, though, doesn't this mean that you two are going to be all big and pregnant while you're alone? Doesn't this mean you'll need me around to make sure you're not lonely?" Not paying attention to how neither woman exactly enjoyed what she'd just said, she continued speaking anyway. "I'm going to be the best friend for both of you during this super exciting time in your lives, I promise!"

"That's…nice, Lissa," Cordelia finally managed to choke out, while Maribelle was trying her hardest to not lose control of herself after being so excited to finally let the cat out of the bag. "Why don't you go back to cleaning tables before other customers come in, while your friend and I discuss some things pertaining to this reveal we've had here today." Eager to please her manager, Lissa did as asked, a huge smile on her face the entire time, while Cordelia motioned for Maribelle to meet her at the counter. "Please, do you think she's being overeager to be polite, or do you think she means what she says?"

Maribelle didn't speak for a moment, her eyes darting back and forth as she thought about the correct answer. "I think she means it. Poor Lissa, doesn't quite get it that things like that aren't what people want to hear, even if she means well by it."

"Let's hope she learns how to control her excitement in the coming weeks then, shall we?" Cordelia waited to see if Maribelle nodded in agreement, which she did, before she said anything else. "Gods, how horrible is it that everything's all happening at once for the both of us? Normally this should be a thing of excitement, but here we are, facing our husbands being gone for some unknown amount of time while we're…stuck being admired by Lissa for what's growing within us."

"When you put it that way, it seems like you think Lissa's going to be a problem now that she knows. I really don't think she will be, I mean, she was around before her niece was born, and she didn't manage to kill Robin then, so I don't think either of us will be harmed because of her enthusiasm." Maribelle gave a small shrug. "I think what'll hurt us is being alone and unable to share things with the people who deserve it more than she does. Although I am certainly not complaining to get to share things with my best friend!"

"The first time she tries to do anything over-the-top in regards to this, I'm going to say something to make her stop, I hope you know." Sighing, Cordelia moved a hand over her stomach, shaking her head as she did. "The timing on this is all just so horrible, I can't believe it. What did we do to deserve this?"

Now giving a bit bigger of a shrug, Maribelle looked to where Lissa was happily cleaning the last of the tables in the shop. "Whatever it is, I hope the gods are happy for what they've caused. A war being fought at the same time soldiers' wives are finding out they're expecting. What kind of nonsense is this?"

"What kind of nonsense is what?" The voice caught both women at the counter by surprise, neither having heard the doorbell ring multiple times as the group now standing inside the shop came in. "Making my sister work like a dog while you gossip about her? For shame, you two. For shame."

"Walking into a conversation you've got no business being in as usual I see, Chrom," Cordelia said, smiling at who had spoken, while Maribelle's attention went to the slightly-open arms of one of the other men. "But we're just discussing news you've long since heard and its impact on us both. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Chrom gave an understanding grunt. "Sounds fun. See, we're not here to exactly talk about those kinds of things, we're here to get our drinks and head to work. Got a long day of preparing forces for heading out in two weeks' time, and I think we're all going to need a bit stronger of a drink today to cope."

"Well, all of them are gonna need that, anyway," Vaike added, nudging Chrom, who muttered something under his breath in response. "C'mon, ya know you're just tryin' to make excuses to have t'come in here today! All the strong drinkin' is happenin' tonight after everyone gets off work and we all know it."

"Ooh, there's a drinking party tonight?" Lissa asked, walking over to the big group of people. "Am I invited? Since, you know, I'm the only one here that isn't the four of you guys that actually _can_ drink right now and all that."

Her response made Cordelia smack herself on her forehead and caused Maribelle to try and curl into her Frederick's arms a bit tighter. "Er, yeah, the Vaike never thought about invitin' you out for anythin' since you're Chrom's sister and all that, but if you're down for it, pretty sure everyone else is too!"

"Almost everyone else," Chrom corrected, shooting a quick glare at Vaike, "and if the person in question who isn't okay with it says anything on the matter, we're going to blame you for giving him the chance to cause problems." Lissa wasn't sure who her brother was talking about, but she was sure that she'd find out soon enough if she just went out with everyone later that night, which she naturally was going to do. If Maribelle was going (and she was, even though she'd just be watching everyone), there was no reason at all for Lissa not to go, and so after work that night she was going into the downtown district of Ylisstol with friends all around her, wondering what kinds of trouble they'd cause as a group.

She quickly found out that the person that had been vaguely talked about was none other than her still-troublesome regular Lon'qu; even though it had been three years since their problems had started, he still reacted to her coldly most of the time. He didn't seem to notice that she was out with the group, even though he did spend some time having drinks with Chrom and his friends, so all problems were averted. After all, there was drinking happening, all in the name of surviving the coming war, why would he spend time focusing on one of the tagalongs?

It turned out that, even though he didn't so much as say a word to her that night, he was still well-aware that she had been there. When he came into the shop the next day, ordering his usual, he started conversation with Lissa while she was trying to pick the perfect thing from the pastry case to give him. "I saw you out last night with you brother and his friends," he said, completely unfazed when she seemed surprised to hear his words, "and I was curious, why didn't you say anything to me?"

"Um, because I didn't want to start something," she admitted, knowing that lying to Lon'qu could have negative effects later on. "Besides, I was really focused on other things that were on my mind, Sorry to say, but a guy who I've been serving for three years doesn't top finding out that my best friend in the world's having a baby."

"She's not the only one in your social circle that is with child, but I'm sure you wouldn't care to know that. I'm not sure I care to know that either." He was a bit shocked when Lissa told him not only that she knew who he was talking about, but that she'd told him only the day before. "How would I have known that news before you? You work for her, you should have been one of the first to know."

"Cordelia wanted to keep it from me for some reason, I guess. How did you know, though?" When he broke into his explanation of being able to read a woman's body language and whatnot, she couldn't help but laugh, although she was making a long mental note to remember to never be around him when she was trying to hide something. For a split second, she wanted to add "especially if pregnant" to that list, but she scratched that idea when she realized there was no way, no how that was going to be happening to her, and definitely not while she was working at the coffee shop of all places.

Her thoughts began to drown him out, and even though she tried to keep herself from venturing down that path, she couldn't help but start to think about what it would be like to be in her friends' shoes, to be having the child of a man about to go away to war. Why would she even do that to herself, first of all, and why was she thinking about that while listening to Lon'qu talk? "You're spacing out again, and I cannot say I appreciate it even slightly," Lon'qu gruffly said, snapping her back into reality. "What are you thinking about that could be so much more interesting than my explanation? Go on, tell me."

She didn't want to admit, not to him and not to herself, that she'd just been thinking about what her life would be like if she just happened to get with him. He wasn't going to appreciate it if he heard it, and she wasn't going to like having those words fall out of her mouth. He was her regular customer, he wasn't someone she could casually hook up with. Then again, hadn't the relationship between Cordelia and Stahl started through working at the shop? And even before that, she knew that Chrom had fallen in love with Robin while working there, so it _was_ possible to find love there. She just didn't want to even entertain the thought that it could happen to her.

"I was just thinking about babies still, no big deal," she lied, completely forgetting that he'd just explained how he could tell a woman was lying to him. He cocked an eyebrow but didn't say anything, only taking his drink and treat over to his table without paying a cent for anything—because even though she wasn't obligated to do so, Lissa paid for his order every time he came in, something that wasn't questioned by anyone, not even the people involved.

The next day, the same thing happened when he came to get his order, with her spacing out and lying about what it was related to. For two weeks, that was what they did with one another, nothing happening aside from her falling into thoughts she'd rather not have and him trying to call her out on it. But just when it started to become the norm, he was gone, the time of his next appearance unknown, and the patterns Lissa had grown used to over the past three years were shattered thanks to the beast known as war.

* * *

 **A/N: this chapter's alternate title is "everything happens so much"**


	6. Mixed Messages

The day the first wave of soldiers departed for the battlefront, the shop was the emptiest it had been in a long time. When Lissa showed up that morning for work, she found a note taped to the door from Cordelia, telling her that she'd be there alone for the duration of the day, and that she was welcome to close up shop early if she got too bored with the lack of customers coming in. She'd laughed it off, thinking that Cordelia was just being pessimistic due to what the day meant for her, and expected the day to go just like so many others before it had.

She was so wrong that, by the time the typical lunch-rush didn't happen, she was ready to just close then, but something inside her made her wait to see if anyone was going to come in looking for someone kind to talk to. It was, after all, a really hard day for a lot of people there in Ylisse, so there had to be at least one person who would turn to someone in a coffee shop as their moral support. Again, she was wrong on that front, but she did have the shop open for some military spouses in need of something sweet to drink to soothe their souls from the heartache they'd experienced that day.

There was one face that she would have loved to have seen that day, but Lissa was well aware that she wasn't going to get to see Lon'qu that day, or any days anywhere close to it. That was her own personal heartache, not being able to get to spend time chatting with the guy that she'd spent so long trying to get on good terms with, but just thinking about it in terms of the same pain that these spouses wandering in were going through made her feel somewhat guilty. She wasn't attached to Lon'qu, not like these people were attached to their loved ones, so she had no reason to even think of losing him in the same way they were thinking of losing their loved ones.

Besides, as she'd come to understand, she was one of the lucky ones in terms of people she cared about in a passionate sense being sent away. While her brother definitely was one of the higher-ranking men in the military, and therefore an important asset to the campaign as a whole, all the people of his rank had come together and decided that not all of them needed to go out into battle at once. Chrom had been one chosen for a later departure date, to be sent out when one of the commanders in battle wanted to come home, and so he had been forced to say goodbye to his friends, one of whom held a command post himself, just like so many others had said goodbye to their lovers.

Lissa had been under the impression that, whenever Chrom came walking into the shop like he normally did, he'd be doing it by himself. Naturally he didn't show up on the day everyone had left, choosing to spend time with his wife and daughter instead, nor did he come in on the following ones while life tried to return to its normal state for everyone in town. But when he did come in, he wasn't alone—and that was the day that Lissa began to realize just how different the world had become in such a short amount of time.

It wasn't even a normal day that this discovery was made on, which made for it to be that much more jarring to poor Lissa. She'd come into work that morning to find Cordelia instructing some new person on the recipe books, making it a point to mention that memorizing each and every ingredient was important. "Oh, did I walk in on something I shouldn't have?" she asked as she locked the shop door behind her, turning to see Cordelia looking at her with a smile. "Didn't know you'd actually gone and hired someone."

"Yes, well, she was looking for a job to pass the time while her companion is away, and I really did need to hire someone before me training them became impossible." There was a quick hand gesture that Cordelia made towards her stomach, one that Lissa caught and grinned at; she knew that her manager wasn't saying that the "impossible" time was anytime soon, but rather that it was going to be there before they knew it. "So after a few days of discussing the situation over dinner, I made the decision to hire her. Lissa, please come over here and meet your new co-worker."

Gladly moving over to behind the closed door to behind the counter, Lissa saw the woman sitting in her corner, a binder opened and on her knees. She had pink hair that rivaled Cordelia's in length, and a serious face that looked more stern than friendly, even despite the smile on her lips. "Why hello there!" Lissa greeted, giving a wave, before side-eyeing Cordelia and whispering, "What's her name? Can't meet her without her name."

"Cherche, her name is Cherche," Cordelia whispered back, hoping the woman didn't overhear their hushed conversation. "She would say that for herself if you gave her the chance to, I'm sure."

"She doesn't seem to want to talk to me." Lissa's side-eye had turned towards Cherche, who was still innocently smiling in her direction, although her focus had gone back to the binder in her lap. When she realized that had to have been because of the whispering, she awkwardly cleared her throat and said, "I'm really glad to get to meet you, and I hope we work together really well!"

"You know, Cordelia, I had assumed she would be much older than she presents herself to be," Cherche finally said, not looking over at the other two ladies, although Lissa had snapped right back to looking at Cordelia, who was tensing up at the statement. "When you spoke so highly of her, the image you painted was one of someone who has been in the service industry for years, not for someone who looks like they just graduated from school."

Raising her eyebrows at what she'd heard, Lissa asked, "Do I really look that young? I mean, I know I have a baby face and I'm kind of small, but—hey, wait a second! Why were you talking about me?"

"I suppose now's as good a time as any to let you in on what exactly I said," Cordelia sighed, watching as Lissa's confusion waned a little. "When Cherche came in this morning, she was able to meet Sumia right away, as she's in the kitchen just like always, but she was curious about who else worked here. I told her a few things about your work ethic and your brilliant personality, and I guess she thought you were someone much older. Not," she gave Lissa a once-over, motioning towards her blonde hair that was done up in its normal pigtails and her very young-looking face, "someone who could pass for being half her actual age."

"I don't look…oh gods, I _do_ look half my age, don't I?" Grabbing one of her pigtails, Lissa continued speaking while shaking her hair a bit. "I promise, I'm not actually a twelve-year-old girl! I'm a real adult with real responsibilities, I swear!"

"Never once did I assume you weren't, don't worry." When Cherche spoke, she sounded flat and unfeeling, although she was trying to look like she cared about what she was saying. "I was just taken a bit by surprise when you came in and didn't fit my mental perception of you. I'm rather used to people I share a position with being roughly my age, and by the sounds of it you're still a few years off of that, if not quite as bad as 'half your age'."

Lissa had to move her finger in the air as she tried to make sense of what she'd just heard, before shrugging it off. "I'll take that as a compliment, maybe, so thank you? What do you mean when you say 'share a position' though? Like, doing this kind of job elsewhere?"

"I've never done something quite this memory-intensive," she replied, pointing towards the binder still in her lap. "My previous job, one that I will return to someday in the future, is one more akin to housekeeping, but with companionship rather than cleaning. I've spent a lot of time being a good obedient servant to someone dear to my heart, and now that he's off fighting a war he had no interest in, I needed something to do to pass the time."

"And," Cordelia interjected, "since where Cherche's from has a different military structure than Ylisse does, it doesn't matter when the men of Ylisstol come home because her companion won't be back until all's taken care of. So she'll easily be able to work here and cover for me for as long as I need her."

"I would do that regardless of my other position resuming or not, though. As long as I find a way to memorize these recipes, that is!" There was a genuine laugh that Cherche gave, and while Lissa was sure it was supposed to sound friendly, all she could think about how forced it sounded. "How could anyone learn to memorize so many different drinks in such a short amount of time? It's quite daunting, and I've had to memorize many a thing before!"

"You'll get it in no time," Lissa said, looking to Cordelia with concerned eyes, "because I did it and if I could, anyone can. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to talk to _our_ manager for a moment." That was when she grabbed for Cordelia's arm, pulling her against the counter's door once she had her in her grasp. "Let's step outside for a second to talk, please."

Unsure of what Lissa wanted with her, Cordelia slowly nodded, opening the door and following Lissa out of the shop, relocking the shop's front door once again when they were out front. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked, dropping any sort of friendliness to sound more stern than she should have. "You're taking away from my training time with my new hire, you better have a good reason for this, or else—"

"Cordelia, you were telling her about me and let her get ideas on how I am without me being there. Why would you do that? She'd never met me before, this wasn't like when you hired me and you and Sumia both kinda knew who I was. You totally made her think I was something I'm not." The words were spilling out of Lissa's mouth a lot angrier than she meant for them to be, and she sighed when she saw her manager start looking upset at the verbal berating. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I guess, but I am saying that I don't think I like knowing that that's happened."

"If I gave further context for why we were discussing you, would that ease your concern?" The gesture was genuine, and there was no reason for Lissa not to accept it. "Very well. I was talking about you in regards to how you also work here, as I explained before, but there was a particular wording I used to describe you that undoubtedly put the image into Cherche's mind that she explained to you."

"This sounds kind of like you're lying to me to get me to believe you, but you haven't done that before so I don't know why you'd do that now…" Lissa tapped her chin in thought a couple of times, ultimately choosing to abandon the idea of Cordelia being less-than-truthful with her. "What's the wording? Was it really bad? Is that why she was surprised to see someone like me?"

Cordelia drew in a deep breath, shaking her head adamantly at the suggestion. "Gods no! I referred to you as my assistant manager, that's all."

"Wh—oh. Oh wow." The meaning behind those words hit her a lot harder than she expected, and she had to reach for Cordelia for some support to keep her legs from buckling out from beneath her. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought she'd be considered the assistant manager of any place, let alone the coffee shop she'd worked at for years now. Questions raced through her mind: why her? Why not the person who'd been there longer? What had she done to deserve such an honor? But there was no time to ask anything of the sort, not while they were still outside with the trainee behind the counter.

Lissa had to sit on that good news all day as she waited to get to discuss it more with Cordelia, and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to talk about it with anyone else or not. Part of her really wanted to yell it to Chrom when he came in, if he did indeed come in that day, but the rest of her told her not to do it, not to talk a word of it until after she'd spoken to Cordelia about it further. That was a good plan in theory, but a horrible one in practice, and it all started when her brother did decide to walk into the shop.

The first clue that something wasn't going to go right was how Cordelia, when she saw Chrom's blue head entering the shop, muttered something under her breath that Lissa only caught part of: "Oh, there's the lucky bastard who…" Rather than asking what the animosity towards him was about, Lissa ignored it completely and took to chatting with her brother while she made his order (and let Cherche watch her do it, for the sake of her knowing how it was done).

"So, looks like Cordelia decided that three people was one too few," Chrom commented, holding out a hand to Cherche, one that she didn't seem to notice until after he'd awkwardly retracted it. "Er, anyway, my name's Chrom. I used to manage this place before I properly joined the Ylissean military."

"You're a well-known man throughout many different fighting forces," she replied, not looking anywhere in his direction, "and I am humbled to be in your presence. When I get the chance to write to my friend, I will have to tell him that I've gotten to meet such a renowned commander who's never seen a battle!"

"Aw, ain't that sweet, people are out there idolizin' Chrom when he's done a whole lotta nothin' yet." Standing next to his friend, like he always was, Vaike wrapped an arm around Chrom's shoulders and leaned into him. "Too bad all the Ylisse guys don't feel the same way, ain't that right?"

It took Lissa a solid minute to realize that she should _not_ have been hearing, let alone seeing, the blond man that was undeniably standing there, somewhat hugging her brother. "What are you doing here still, Vaike?" she asked, disbelief in her voice. "I thought you were sent out with the others. Don't tell me you, like, skipped out or anything."

"D'ya not remember me explainin' this to ya before, Lissa? Chrom and the other boss guys won't send me out to war 'cause," Vaike grinned and, despite Chrom being right there under his arm, finished his sentence in the most unexpected of ways with, "well, when ya punch a commander for talkin' bad 'bout your friends' choices, they just don't let ya do a whole lot of anythin' anymore."

"Why would you punch a commander?" Lissa was leaning back a bit in shock at what she'd heard, looking at her brother for an answer, as if he'd been the recipient of the punch. "That's, like, not okay or anything!"

"He did it to protect his friends' honor. While I'm not thrilled that he did it, nor am I thrilled with the consequences that came with it, it did make me proud to call him my friend when I heard he'd done it." Nodding at his own words, Chrom laughed and finally reciprocated the half-hug Vaike was giving him. "Especially since one of the people being talked bad about was someone _else_ with command power and whatnot."

"Wait a second…" Turning to now look back at Cordelia, who was fiddling with her fingers as she stood up against the kitchen door, Lissa scrunched up her face in thought. "You're not upset about seeing Chrom here, are you?"

Cordelia seemed taken aback by the question, raising her hands defensively when she answered. "I could never be upset with seeing him. It's Vaike who's the lucky bastard to pick fighting a commander over fighting in a war, and while I'm glad Stahl had the sense to not bring shame to our family's name, I'm pleased someone did it for him." There was no hint of the previous grumbling that she'd been exhibiting, although when she finished talking her hands dropped back to in front of her stomach, fidgeting once more.

"Thanks for the compliment there, Cordelia!" Vaike cheerfully said, using his free hand to give her a thumbs-up. "Means a lot to hear ya sayin' that after all that's happened. Wasn't gonna let that fella talk bad about your man, or anyone else's man. Sayin' that a guy decidin' to have a kid is a reckless decision just didn't sit right with the Vaike, and somethin' needed to be done about it."

"And while the something that was done could have been handled much better, I'm still impressed you had the courage to go through with it." Now pushing his friend off of him, Chrom set his hands on the counter and leaned onto it, getting rather close to where his sister was turning back around to face. "Although, between you and me, Lissa, no one's ever once said that he's had the brains to think better of that kind of behavior."

"I'm right here, y'know! Can hear ya talkin' 'bout me and all that." Crossing his arms over his chest, Vaike gave a playful "hmph" and waited for Chrom to apologize for what he'd just said. When that apology never came, he rolled his eyes and stomped a foot. "Seriously, get myself blacklisted from battle for our gang and this is the thanks ol' Vaike gets—bein' talked bad about right in front of his face!"

Sighing and standing back up, Chrom held out an arm and blindly reached for Vaike until he got a grasp on his shoulder, before pushing him away and nearly into a table. "It wasn't in front of your face, it was a secret shared between siblings. If it bothered you so much, you shouldn't have given us reason to say it."

"Hey, don't incriminate me in this! I didn't say anything!" Lissa was laughing, trying her hardest to get the drinks she'd begun to neglect finished up before they got cold. "I think it's really cool that he was willing to, I don't know, get in super amounts of trouble to defend a friend. It seems like a smart decision to me."

"I like her, she's strokin' my ego pretty good right now." Collecting himself after narrowly missing crashing into the table beside him, Vaike came right back to where he'd been previously standing and shot a couple of finger guns in Lissa's direction. "What say you keep that up every time I come on in here? I could get used to hearin' a lady say that kinda stuff without either demandin' I do the same back or just gettin' dirty with it."

"Er, maybe you two should…talk about this elsewhere," Cordelia interjected, coming forward from the door to take a firm and imposing stance right next to Lissa behind the counter. "First of all, Cherche doesn't need to be getting ideas regarding you two and your weird friendship; secondly, I'd hate for other customers to walk in on this; and finally, I don't think I appreciate hearing slight come-ons being said to Lissa in my shop."

The two men shared a look of confusion between them, while Lissa continued laughing and finished up their order, taking their money so they could do as Cordelia had requested and get out of the shop. But it was right as they were headed out the door that Vaike turned around, his drink in hand, looking straight at Lissa, and he said: "Hey, wait a second, it's cool if some foreign guy does it, but it ain't cool when we're jokin' about it? Nice one there, eh Cordelia?" He was hushed by the redhead and he left without getting any response, although Lissa would have loved to have asked him what he meant.

By foreign guy, he meant Lon'qu, didn't he? But what would he know about him…?

* * *

The question honestly might as well have been "what wouldn't he know about him" instead, because in the following weeks, Lissa found out a lot about the somewhat complicated relationship between Lon'qu and Vaike. She only considered it _somewhat_ complicated because the complications didn't have anything to do with Vaike himself; rather, it was the struggle of power and acceptance between Lon'qu and Vaike's girlfriend that was the entire problem. "Okay, so ya really wanna talk about that guy, even though he's long gone and for good reason?"

"Yes, I only agreed to come out with you tonight because you promised to tell me about him." Puffing her cheeks out at Vaike's sudden reluctance to tell her what she was curious about, Lissa gave him a few seconds to start speaking before she got even more upset. When his words never came, she rolled her eyes, laying her head down on the table they were sitting at. "Seriously, you can't do this to me. I've got to work in the morning, I can't be out all night waiting for you to get drunk enough to talk."

"No, no, I'm just thinkin' to come up with the best way t'tell you this story. It's a real knockout of a tale, lemme tell ya." Miming punching someone in the face, he was displeased when she seemed bored by his attempt at a joke. "Got it, on to tellin' ya what's the deal with that Lon'qu guy. He ain't really that bad, he's just got a thing against women. Can't stand them holdin' rank or power over him."

"I already knew that about him," Lissa sighed, rolling her eyes again. "I'm not buying you drinks tonight to hear things I've already learned over three years of knowing the guy."

At the mention of getting drinks purchased for him, Vaike took in a deep breath, before letting words fall from his mouth, no longer stopped by him trying to think about them. "And here I was thinkin' ya wanted to hear 'bout how him and Sully got in a real fight one time just 'cause he wouldn't listen t'her and she got tired of it. No, you're here to hear the Vaike tell ya all about Lon'qu and his mighty odd interest in a little blonde coffee shop gal, aren't you?"

Sitting back up, her spirits rising, Lissa nodded. "That's exactly what I want. You're joking about that, right? Like, it's all just a joke?" When he didn't answer her in the way she wanted, only smiling at her with a hesitant grin, her eyes went wide. "Well, get on with the explaining then, will you? I'm dying to know why you'd even _say_ something like that!"

"I only say it 'cause it's true," he started, before breaking into a long and only slightly incoherent story of how, over the past three years, he'd been treated to story after story of Lon'qu picking fights with other women, complaining that they were nothing like "the kind coffee shop girl" he was so fond of. With every story, Lissa's eyes went wider until they felt to her like they were the size of small dinner plates, and every time she gasped or made any noise of surprise, Vaike would try outdoing himself with the next story. It only proceeded to get worse once he started drinking for the evening, and although Lissa did have to leave earlier than she would have hoped due to work in the morning, she was eager to have another meeting like that one, where he drunkenly told her stories about how she'd become part of the moral reasoning Lon'qu relied on whenever he fought with other women.

For the better part of the next few months, those two would go out once or twice a week together for the purpose of this kind of storytelling, even though their meetings were also satisfying his want for a drinking partner (one whom rarely did actually drink) as well as her need to get to hear about the man she was so confused by. Sometimes they would get Chrom to come out with them, but he tended to refuse any and all variations of the offer while using the excuse of having a child at home, or the excuse of not wanting to go out while his wife couldn't. "If you guys wanted to have a night out together, just ask me to babysit and we'll all be good," Lissa told him, putting a hand on Chrom's shoulder while she spoke, it falling forward as he realized how right she was. "It's been years since I last did an overnight at your place, anyway."

"Maybe I should take you up on that offer then," he replied, placing his own hand on top of hers. "As long as you two don't pester me to come out with you more without giving me and Robin some more time out on our own, that is." Her face lit up and she explained to him that she was more than happy to let him and his wife go out whenever they wanted, as long as it didn't conflict with anything she'd already planned. "Yes, yes, have to respect the babysitter's availability, I know."

Lissa's evenings quickly became, for a while, filled with being anywhere but home. There were the storytelling nights with Vaike, the nights spent babysitting Lucina so Chrom could go out with Robin, and then there were the nights where she went to Maribelle's house to talk all the wonders and logistics of babies with her. Of all the things she was doing, that was by far her favorite; no matter how much she loved hearing stories about how this rude guy might have liked her, she would still rather spend her time talking about babies and the very-real one growing inside of her best friend.

But just like everything else in life, those nights of being out quickly changed their course before Lissa could do anything about it. First came Maribelle's reluctance to let her over so often, not wanting to be judged as she had begun to show and she was incredibly hesitant to let anyone, especially someone so close to her, see the changes happening to her. Then it was Chrom bowing out of any and all nights out for the foreseeable future, his reason of wanting to spend what time he had left in Ylisstol with his daughter and his wife completely acceptable—until he let it slip that he wanted to spend time with them not because of his eventual entrance into war, but rather because he was concerned Robin was going to kill him at some point soon, her having gotten pregnant again on one of their nights out together. When Lissa found that one out, one day while she was cleaning tables, her reaction was to laugh until she cried, ignoring how red Chrom's face got at what she was doing.

"I'm sorry, I just can't believe that you and all of your friends are having babies," she explained, before collecting herself to seriously address Vaike, who was stifling his own laughter beside them both. "Vaike, please, don't end up like all of them. I'm begging you, if anyone else I know has a baby anytime soon I might lose my mind."

He gave her a nod of agreement. "No plans to do anythin' of the sort, miss. Can't exactly do that while stayin' faithful to a soldier at war. 'sides, someone's gotta be the cool friend who ain't really tied down, and since all my pals are off makin' babies and more babies, looks like that's a role for the Vaike to fill."

"I'm glad you two are taking this as a joking matter, which it's not," Chrom said, looking between them both with his beet-red face. "It's a death blow to any and all plans you might have had to get me going out for your discussion nights, no ifs, ands, or buts." He then explained that, in knowing that he would have to leave for war at any time, he was going to choose spending time with his wife over spending time with anyone else, because he had the sinking feeling that he was going to abandon her when things got rough, much like what was currently happening to the other ladies who were with child.

In fact, as the conversation was unfolding, Cordelia was standing behind the counter, watching the three talk with a sympathetic expression as she rubbed at her stomach, which was clearly straining against the shirt she was wearing. Lissa noticed the display and tensed up, biting her lip as she came up with some way to apologize for upsetting her. "No, don't say anything to make this up to me, I'm not upset at all right now." Cordelia was clearly lying and Lissa knew it, but she also knew she had to follow her manager's word. "I'm merely thinking about how hard this might be on poor Robin. I'm rather sympathetic to a woman who finds herself in this same situation."

"You can all be a support group for one another, you and her and Maribelle, I suppose." Chrom deeply inhaled, tilting his head back and closing his eyes as he did. "Not like I wish this was how it was happening for any of you, but that's just how the gods wanted things to happen and we're not to question it."

"He's makin' it sound more like he did this on purpose," Vaike said, trying to muffle his naturally-loud voice with his hand so that Chrom wouldn't hear him. He wasn't surprised at all when Chrom reacted by attempting to push him into a table, but when he didn't stumble backwards and was instead dragged closer to the blue-haired man by the collar of his shirt, he was confused. "Er, hey there Chrom, listen, whatever it was I just said? Yeah, didn't mean that one at all. Why'd I ever say anythin' you wouldn't like hearin'?"

"You know I heard what you said, but that's not the point of this." Moving his head back to its normal resting position, Chrom reopened his eyes and looked straight at Vaike, making the blond become visibly anxious at their current situation. He pulled his friend in a bit closer, only adding to the anxiety, and right as Lissa was about to chime in to get her brother to knock it off, he let go of Vaike's shirt and sighed. "The point here is, there goes our plan we'd been talking about. That ball's now entirely in your court, do with it what you will."

His eyes widened for a moment, before he realized he knew what Chrom was talking about and nodded at it. "Got it, pal. I'll take good care 'a that real quick, promise."

"Thanks. Wish I could be there for it, but…" He shrugged, turning to Lissa. "Don't start making dumb choices now that you know I won't be going out with you two. The last thing we need is another member of this supposed 'baby-having' club."

Now it was her face getting red, not because of the implications of what he'd said, but rather because what she said in response was: "No worries, I've had nightmares about that exact situation before and let me tell you, I'm not going there." The first laugh came from her brother, then from Vaike, and when she heard Cordelia cracking up behind the counter, she knew she'd misspoken pretty badly. "Er, I mean…"

There was no need for her to clarify what she meant, everyone knew exactly what it was. "I think it's best for you to take care of that quickly then, if Lissa's having strange romance dreams about you again, Vaike." His sister sputtered at the accusation, because while that was what she'd been referring to, it wasn't a recent occurrence by any means, and he continued laughing, turning all attention back to his friend. "If your kindness does that to her, I wonder what her knowing what we know will then do."

For the rest of the day, and the subsequent ones until the night proceeding her next day off came, Lissa was left to dwell not just on her bad word choice, but on what Chrom had meant by what he'd said there. What was there that he and Vaike could know that was both relevant to her and something she hadn't already been told? There weren't many possibilities, but every time she brought up that burning question at work she was hushed by Cordelia, who wanted to hear nothing of it. "You're focusing far too much on personal issues and not enough on work," she scolded, shaking a stern finger at Lissa. "This quest for finding that tidbit out is becoming a drain on your work."

"Aw, it totally isn't," she replied, hanging her head as she knew it really was. "I've only dropped a few cups in the past couple days, and only one of those wasn't because I wasn't holding it right." She waved her hand, knowing that if she could see Cordelia's face, it wouldn't be impressed at all. "I'm trying my hardest to work and be curious, but I guess I can't multitask very well."

"You get two things on your mind and you stop being able to work properly. Gods help you when you have more than that to be dealing with." Like she normally did in most conversations, Cordelia motioned towards her stomach, although she knew Lissa wasn't watching her. "Let's hope you heed your brother's warning from the other day." If the words from that particular conversation involving Chrom and Vaike weren't already lingering with her, they definitely were now; she knew Cordelia was trying to get her to focus less on the news being hidden from her, but all she'd done was make it worse, as well as given her something new to dwell on.

When the night of answers came to be, Lissa was ready to be met with disappointment at what she was given. So when she showed up to the normal meeting place and found Vaike at their usual table, an envelope sitting across from him in her spot, she was pleasantly surprised. "Is this what you and Chrom were talking about?" she asked, getting a nod from him in return. "Oh, well, couldn't you have just given this to me then?"

"Chrom needed t'give someone a bit of reassurance that you'd be gettin' it before ya actually got it, that's all," he said, fiddling with an envelope of his own in front of him. There was a bit of excitement in how he was moving as he sat, something she pointed out. "What, ol' Vaike gettin' a tad excited 'bout a letter from his sweetheart? No way."

"A letter…?" Looking down at the envelope sitting in front of her, Lissa's eyebrows raised at the perfectly-penned name and address on the front of it. "Okay, no big deal. This looks too nice to be Stahl's writing, but it's not stuffy like Frederick's, so it's not either of them writing to me about how much they appreciate me being a good friend to their wives. I doubt there's anyone else who'd bother writing to me, so it's got to be fake. Kind of like yours, I bet."

He looked offended at the accusation that the letter he was holding was fake, and to prove his point he pulled it out of its envelope and showed it to her, the messy handwriting foreign to her but so familiar to him. "Lemme read this off t'ya so that y'know it's the real deal, and so that you'll open that one ya got there and see it's real too." He overdramatically cleared his throat, before reading off the first few lines of the letter, getting bored with it, and skipping down to a part he was sure would be unmistakable for being legitimate: "Somedays it's hard to be one of the few women out here, having to bunk with men and all that. It's okay, they don't see me as a lady to begin with, and even if they did, they wouldn't have to worry about me coming onto them because I touch myself to thoughts of you, and only you."

"That's…definitely something Sully would write, I guess," Lissa quietly said, her eyes resting on the envelope still sitting in front of her. "I doubt you'd, um, make something like that up in her name, so maybe you aren't pulling my leg on this one. But who's this from?"

"That, Lissa, is somethin' you've gotta discover for yourself by readin' the thing." Vaike chuckled to himself as he folded his own letter back up, setting it down on the table as he watched Lissa slowly pick hers up. "Trust me, it ain't from anyone you ain't secretly expectin' somethin' from. We all know that you'd prefer it if he came walkin' into the shop someday, but this is the next best thing."

"It's from Lon'qu?" There was genuine surprise in her voice, and when Vaike nodded at her like she'd just asked the dumbest question ever, she felt like she was being mocked a bit. "Well excuse me for being shocked he'd do anything for me! I figured I was just the coffee shop girl to him, nothing more."

He laughed again, making her feel more like she was being made fun of. "Lissa, I'unno what kind of world you've been livin' in, but it's clear the dude's got somethin' for ya inside 'a him, and it's even clearer you've got somethin' for him! Just go ahead and read the letter, watch him confess his love t'you, have yourself a big ol' wartime romance goin', all that sorta stuff. You deserve it."

"I've got something for him?" It was weird, having a friend telling her that she was apparently in love with someone when she had no idea that was the case, and when Vaike nodded eagerly, she eyed the letter with more suspicion than she'd had before. "I don't really think I do. I mean, he's obviously got something for me if he's writing me letters while at war but me having something for him? No way!"

"Judgin' by how much you're already lightin' up as we talk 'bout him, you're just lyin' through your teeth. It's a whole big mutual attraction you've got and now it's time for you t'do somethin' 'bout it, which is read that letter." Vaike watched as she slowly opened the envelope, her eyes starting to shine as she read the first few words on the page. "Yeah, see, you've definitely got somethin' for him. Just look at'cha, you're already beamin' like he's flatterin' you in his openin'!"

That was because, as she now knew, he had done exactly that. "Dear Lissa, the perky barista at the coffee shop I long to return to, I hope this letter finds you in good health, aside from the potential of a broken heart," the letter started, and she was starting to grin and tear up as she continued reading. "Being at war is a lot like being home in Ferox, everything is desolate and no one has any intentions of being friendly with a stranger such as myself. As a person of a lonesome nature, that typically would not bother me, but hearing the other men speak of their loved ones has made me—" Words were crossed out at this point, ones that made her squint and try to read them through her building tears, but to no avail. It picked back up on a new thought, one where he began discussing some of the worst parts of his current situation.

As she read, Vaike watched her intently, waiting for her to say anything about how right he was, about how he'd known things about them that she hadn't even suspected. The silence shocked him, but when he realized that she was getting emotionally invested in the letter, he understood why she wasn't saying much at all. "You just take your time readin' that thing," he told her, "and when you're done, you should probably reply to him. Sucks that we ain't allowed to, say, pick up a phone and call their station unless there's an emergency, but writin' letters is kinda nice once ya get used to it."

She was brushing his words off as she continued reading, becoming engrossed in the two full pages of carefully written words. The letter never directly addressed any sort of "interest" in her that Vaike had been so insistent about, but based on how Lon'qu had scratched out so many words in places where that seemed like the next logical point, it was clear he was trying to refrain from talking about any sort of romance at all. "You and your kindness run through my mind more often than the comforts of home do," he concluded, followed with a few more words that were crossed out, and then finally a finishing "I miss you, Lissa. Reply soon. Lon'qu."

"He _misses_ me," she sobbed, setting the letter down as she gave into the crying she'd tried so hard to avoid. "He misses me and thinks about me and I did nothing but treat him wrong and then try to make it up to him! I've got to tell him how I feel about this!" She should have known from the moment when he'd left and her heart had been hurting that there was something more to their relationship than met the eye, but all it took was one letter for her to get the point.

One letter that she went home that night and wrote an equally-as-long response to. Like in his, she kept from writing anything explicit about romance, wanting to keep it as mature and ambiguous as he had, but she found it hard to not sneak in little references to the romantic strings in her heart that thinking about him pulled. From the day she sent her response until the next time she got a letter in the mail, this one addressed to her and not to the military instillation there in Ylisstol, all she could think about was how Lon'qu must have taken what she'd said, wondering if he was going to reply with just as much veiled passion as he'd initially sent to her.

The second letter was a lot of the same in terms of how it skirted around the romance issue, but it did mention how much he cared about her as a person, not just as a companion in a coffee shop; when she replied to that, she made sure to tell him the same, that she cared about him as who he was, not as his position as her customer. When the third letter showed up, it skipped being vague about feelings and he directly addressed that he was "unaware of how something so natural and terrifying could bloom between two people once so opposed to the other's existence," which she took as him referring to love between them. "I can't say that it's terrifying, but it's kind of invigorating to know that we've moved past being enemies to be where we are," she wrote in reply to that, sealing that letter not just with a sticker but a kiss on top of it before sending it off.

"You've done nothing but keep me company in my lonely hours while I am here," his next letter started, "and as a soldier with no friends to call his own here in Plegia, I must thank you for being so understanding. Your words course through my mind during the day, and at night, thoughts of your face send me off to sleep. Never did I expect a woman to become such a savior in this trying time, and I am overjoyed that the woman who's filled this role is someone as lovely as you." That was part of a letter that she'd chosen to hang up on her wall at home, somewhere she could always look at it when she got lonely herself.

"Thinking of you, with your friendly smile and your warm personality, is enough to get any man praying to the gods above that he makes it back to see you again, and I am no exception to that rule," another letter said, and that was one that Lissa carried with her everywhere. When the holiday season rolled around at work and separated military spouses came in, grumbling about how the cheer in their lives was gone, she would pat her pocket and that letter within it, reminding herself that if Lon'qu would pray to see her again, she couldn't let grumpy people ruin her day. She had an attractive personality to him for a reason, and she had to milk that reason for all it was worth.

After all, how could a woman-hating man have fallen for her if she didn't have such a kind soul and personality?

* * *

 **A/N: happy birthday to my dearest friend GreenPokeGuy, for whom this story is written c: It took six weeks but we've finally gotten romantic feelings between your requested pair, haven't we? One more chapter to go!**


	7. To New Beginnings

Dwelling on how Lon'qu had complimented her was more than enough to get Lissa by, but it had the unfortunate side-effect of making every other thought she voiced in idle time be about the man that was almost always on her mind. She certainly didn't try to make every conversation about him, but whenever any of her co-workers would start talking about their significant others, she couldn't help but start talking about him. They tolerated it at first, in those first days after she'd received that letter, but after a week or so of the constant chatter about Lon'qu and his undeniable attraction to her, no one could honestly say that they were much of a fan of the topic anymore.

Sumia tried to change the conversations by bringing up her very-much-not baby daughter anymore, reminding Lissa of how much she used to love playing with little Cynthia and how she should get back into that habit. Lissa would proceed to wonder out loud if Lon'qu was as enamored with children as she was, if he would be interested in watching the girl with her sometime once he was back. Cherche's method of distraction was to ask Lissa about random snippets of her life, curious questions referring back to past events that would always become questions about if Lon'qu had experienced anything similar.

And then there was Cordelia's attempts to get Lissa to talk about anything else. In a state where she shouldn't still have been working by any means, her mind was just as focused on her physical condition as Lissa's was focused on her new romantic pursuit, and any time they talked it was a battle over which one of them could control the conversation with their personal interest. Although hers was much more pressing and relevant to present events, Cordelia never seemed to get her way in the situation, always falling victim to having to listen to Lissa go on and on about her feelings.

"I don't think you understand, I don't really care much about you being in love with him," she finally said, after weeks of those losing battles. "He's not here at the moment, just like so many others, and while I enjoy you being happy, perhaps we could talk about something more relevant to right now?"

"What could be more relevant than that?" Lissa asked in return, pursing her lips as she waited for some answer to refute. "I had to listen to you talk about Stahl when you first fell in love with him, can't you give me the same kind of courtesy right now?"

"If Lon'qu was anywhere near here, I would gladly give that courtesy, but he's in Plegia and there's something more important we could be discussing right now." Having long since been unable to stand behind the counter for long periods of time without getting uncomfortable, Cordelia looked over at Lissa from the chair she was sitting in, one arm resting on top of her incredibly swollen stomach. "Such as the time you're going to be spending managing this place?"

Lissa gave a soft laugh, playfully rolling her eyes. "As if I'm actually going to do that. You'll be gone, what, a few days and then be right back to run this shop, right?"

"I think you've let your romance go to your head if you truly think that. I'll be out for at least two months, provided I actually do take my leave beforehand. The last thing I want is to go into labor while here at the shop, but I also don't want to be alone when it happens." She slightly winced in pain at something, an action that Lissa noticed but ignored. "If Stahl was home, this wouldn't be a problem, but he's not here and so I'm still working."

"Yeah, something about that doesn't seem like it's okay, but I mean, it's your life so I'm not going to question it." Lissa looked at Cordelia and cracked a smile, taking note of how stone-faced her manager looked. "Say, how are you feeling right now? You're here and you're not crying in pain, so you can't be doing too bad."

"I'm doing fine, yes. Or as 'fine' as someone who's this close to having a baby can be, I suppose." Another wince, one that visibly made Cordelia shift how she was sitting. "Poor little thing's run out of room to move in there, she's doing nothing but shift and squirm, trying to get herself ready to come out. I never thought I'd miss how she would kick, but it was a lot more tolerable than these movements."

The smile Lissa had got a bit bigger, her mind's focus finally moving from Lon'qu to something else that she had interest in, that being babies. "Oh boy, I should tell Maribelle you said that, she'll totally think you're crazy for actually _missing_ kicking!" she said, putting her hands to her cheeks as she began to grin at Cordelia. "Of course, she'll also think you're crazy for still coming to work every day even though you're literally due in a couple weeks. I don't even know the last time Maribelle willingly left her house for anything, she's been making me go out and run all her errands for her. You two are so different."

"Yes, well, we are also at quite different points in our pregnancies, so any differences should be taken with a grain of salt." Cordelia made an attempt to stand up, but when she got to her feet one leg buckled out from underneath her, sending her back into her chair while Lissa jumped to keep her from falling. "Ahem, I can handle myself right now, although your care and assistance is quite appreciated."

"I don't think anyone, super pregnant or not, should be falling like that when they stand up. Are you sure you're feeling okay right now?" Lissa had one hand on Cordelia's back, the other awkwardly positioned to stop her from getting up if she tried to again. "I mean, I'm not trying to be concerned or anything, but that looked kind of scary."

She shook her head, her position in the chair changing once more. "It's simply a reminder that I'm to be sitting down at all times if I'm attempting to work, that's all. My doctor was not pleased when I told her I refused to stop working until the last possible moment, because she was afraid something like this would happen, and the sitting agreement was made for her peace of mind and my health."

"Um, I really think that if there's something wrong, you shouldn't be working, no matter how much you want to be." Rubbing her back a bit, Lissa sighed. "Cordelia, what's going on that's doing this to you? Like I said, I don't think anyone should be falling like that."

"The best way to explain it is that, due to my dear child needing so much energy and nutrients from me, the rest of my body isn't getting what it needs to survive. Every moment I spend doing anything not being stationary leaves me light-headed and unable to balance, leading to what happened there." There was a tense pause after Cordelia spoke, one where Lissa's eyes went incredibly wide and she tried to come up with some worried comment to make. "I don't want to hear your concern right now, I've got everything under control to the point that I'm able to work until it gets to be too much to bear."

"H-how long's this been going on?" Lissa asked, her voice making no efforts to hide her worry. "That's really not okay, no matter how long, but…"

"It's been since before the holiday season, but here since the turn of the year it's done nothing but get worse. However, before you raise more concerns, keep in mind that I am making weekly visits to the doctor and she's fine with me working at this point, even if I have to stay seated while I'm here." Bouncing one of her feet against the floor, Cordelia looked to Lissa and the concerned look on her face. "Come on, laugh about this! Of all the people to be bothered like this, your work-minded manager had to be one!"

"It's hard to find something like this funny when you could be hurting yourself or your baby just because you don't want to quit working for a while." Lissa bit down on her bottom lip, restraining herself from saying anything else and sounding like an overbearing mother to Cordelia. "Please, don't do something stupid here."

To try and calm those worries, Cordelia attempted standing once more, but again the dizziness took over and she nearly fell into the counter, only being caught by Lissa. "Maybe you're right and I should take the required time off now, even if it's not quite time for my sweetheart to make her way into this world. Maybe some needed bedrest would do me and her both some good."

"Yes! It doesn't matter if I've got no clue how to be the real manager of this place, you need to put you and the baby first, us all second." Getting her back into the chair, Lissa mimed wiping her forehead once Cordelia was properly seated once more. "So, going back to what you said before, two months I'll be in charge, right?"

"More or less, yes. Are you sure you want to be put into that position? As long as I'm sitting down, I can still work right now, I assure you." She was hushed by Lissa, the young blonde not wanting to hear the well-intentioned words, and before she could give a retort she had another pain run through her body, leaving her breathless. In the minutes it took for her to regain the ability to speak, Lissa started to grow worried about her manager's health, to the point that she insisted that she not only leave early for the day, but that she have someone drive her first to the doctor and then back home. "I think that might be a bit of an overreaction for someone who knows very little of the situation, but if it makes you happy, I'll do exactly as you've asked."

"It makes me happy and feel a lot better, yeah," Lissa told her, before stepping back into the kitchen to call the one person she could think of who'd be willing and available to help someone out with this. Robin was a bit confused to be contacted for such a thing, but she drove over to get Cordelia as soon as she could, coming inside to help walk the redhead out to her car before they headed out. In the hour or so between them leaving and Robin coming back by herself, all Lissa could think about was how there was the possibility that something was very wrong, and that Cordelia had been ignoring it.

There was a moment of relief that came over Lissa when Robin did come back, bearing the news that everything was mostly fine, the only problem being that, until she had that baby, Cordelia had been placed on strict bedrest restrictions. "Poor doctor was so confused when Cordelia said she'd still been working as recently as today," she explained, leaning over the counter while Lissa made her a non-coffee drink. "She was very stern with the explanation of why that was a horrible idea. I don't think Cordelia will enjoy being at home alone, so I think I'll make it a point to take Lucina over there and spend time with her over the next few weeks, but this is for the best."

"Thanks for helping me out with getting her out of her, Robin. She clearly needed it." Finishing with the drink and handing it to her sister-in-law free of charge, Lissa smiled. "I'm just glad that nothing bad happened yet, you know? It probably would have if she'd stayed here trying to work, which is so not okay."

"So you're sayin' that Cordelia ain't allowed t'be workin' anymore, huh?" Vaike asked, standing alongside Robin there at the counter. He'd shown up to the shop somewhere in that hour after Cordelia had left, there to keep Lissa company and talk to her like he'd begun to regularly do, and when Robin had come in he'd just scooted to the side rather than leaving. "What a pity, woman's got nothin' better to do with her time anymore. She could really use someone comin' back to shower her with love."

"And that's exactly why Lucina and I are going to make it a point to visit her for as long as she's alone. We'd do the same for anyone who's stuck at home without a spouse to call to their side right now." Robin turned her head to face Vaike, watching as his eyes started shifting as he thought about what he'd just heard. "Don't you start thinking that you can do the same, this was my idea first and I would prefer if you didn't steal it."

He raised his hands defensively. "Hey ma'am, no one said the Vaike was thinkin' of stealin' a word of your idea. This whole situation just got me thinkin', that's all."

"Very well. Lissa, you should join us too sometime if you feel like it." Turning back to the woman behind the counter, Robin smiled. "I'm sure Lucina would love to get to spend that time with you as well. She's grown up so much so fast, you might not even recognize her when you see her next."

"I'm not going to make visiting Cordelia be about Lucy, so I might not go with you guys, but I'll totally go visit Cordelia, no worries! Me and Sumia will probably go by together, and maybe Cherche too if she cares enough." Lissa nodded at her own words, making Robin smile more. "We'll make this next however-long be bearable for Cordelia, just because we all care about her!"

It was hard not to get enthused when Lissa was spouting such excitement, her mind focused on something that wasn't the romantic aspect of her life for the first time in a while. Over the next week, true to their word, the women went and visited Cordelia, bringing her whatever she asked for upon their trips to her house. She seemed upset at the idea of being stuck in bed at first, but after a couple of days, during which she only seemed to get more and more winded and lightheaded whenever she got up from the bed, her mind had resigned itself to the fact that this really was best. She was happy whenever someone, anyone, came to visit her, as they tended to spend several hours just sitting there keeping her company. Somewhere in the middle of this, Lissa had the brilliant idea to drag Maribelle out of her home to come visit Cordelia, and lined that interaction up with a time when Robin was going to be over, and although she felt on the outs in regards to their topics of conversation, she found it nice to hear all three of them talking about babies and what being pregnant was like and things like that.

Once or twice, even Chrom was dragged to come visit, and the way Cordelia's face lit up when she'd see him was enough to make it worth it to him. She knew that if anyone was having contact with the men out in battle, it was going to be him, and so she badgered him with questions about the state of returns for the soldiers that were already gone. "It's complicated, we can't just send people home for whatever reason," he explained, watching her face fall with every word, "and I'm not allowed to discuss this matter with my fellow commanders. I cannot make it seem like I myself want anyone to be brought home for non-battle related reasons."

As Lissa was there beside him when he broke that news to Cordelia, she was able to get heated about it on her manager's behalf, going into work the next day grumbling at anyone who would listen about how unfair it was that a soldier couldn't be brought home to be with his wife who could be having their child at any moment. Most people ignored what she was saying, only wanting their drinks and food and then leaving, but occasionally someone would hang around to listen to the complaints. No one intended on doing anything, raising any fuss about it, though, which only made Lissa angrier at things.

"It's not fair to her or to Stahl," she said, leaning her head down on the counter as Vaike stood across from her. "Why doesn't anyone see that? He can't help it that he's not a commander or anything and can't come back because he's just a soldier. He should be allowed to come back, he really should!"

"He'll come back when he comes back, I guess," Vaike replied, also leaning down to get on her level. "Ain't like he knows anythin's goin' on here, anyway." There was enough of a cryptic message hidden underneath what he'd said that Lissa couldn't help but wonder if he was implying anything, but when he saw her widening her eyes at him, he shook that suspicion right off. "No, don't start thinkin' like anythin's now gonna happen. It's all set in stone, ain't nothin' changin' 'bout it. Why, I'd be shocked if anythin' managed to change in the next few weeks…"

The way he trailed off wasn't doing any wonders in regards to her suspicion, but she knew that he was right. Nothing was going to change, Stahl wasn't going to come back, and Cordelia was still going to be alone. That was the inevitable truth.

* * *

There was a tapping on the front window that caught Lissa by surprise, one that startled her enough to make her drop the cup she had been filling. Her head turned to look at who was tapping, but Cherche had already determined who it was. "It seems that blond man is trying to get your attention," she said, her voice showing no emotion whatsoever. "Odd how he's chosen not to come in, even in the snow."

After cleaning up the mess she'd made with the spilled drink, time during which the tapping had turned into knocking, Lissa left the area behind the counter, telling her co-worker that she'd be right back. Cherche seemed to ignore her, even when she opened the door and stepped outside into the cold, facing the visitor with concern in her eyes. "Vaike, what are you doing here? It's mid-afternoon, you should be at work, not hanging out around here…"

"I couldn't go any longer without tellin' ya the big news of the day. Dunno how much ya heard from Chrom, if any at all, and makin' ya wait until later to find out just seemed wrong." Vaike took a deep breath, grabbing Lissa into a hug that she didn't understand the reason behind. "He's gone, left all 'a us for the next couple months, for changin' of command out in the field or whatever."

Without taking even a moment, Lissa could feel herself tearing up at the news, and when she blinked, streams of tears began cascading down her cheeks. "He never told me a thing! You've got to be joking with me right now!"

"'Fraid this ain't a joke at all," he replied, getting choked up himself. "When a couple friends of ours came walkin' into headquarters this mornin', we knew it meant it was time for Chrom t'get goin'. Not even sure if he had time to break the news to Robin, which is why I came t' you. You've gotta go tell her."

Two conflicting thoughts flooded Lissa's mind as she listened to Vaike speak: one was about how relieved certain people she knew had to be at this development, while the other was relating back to how broken Robin would be when she found out. "When exactly's he going to be back? Before…before May, right? Before his birthday and before the baby and all that?" She could feel Vaike shrug as he still hugged her, and the uncertainty was enough to make her cry more. "That's not fair! They get to come back for their babies and he might not be back for his?"

"It's not like I had any say in this, don't get hurt at me 'cause I'm the one tellin' ya. Trust me, if I had a say, d'ya really think my lady'd still be out there fightin' for Ylisse? I don't think so." He finally let go of her, just to have to wrap an arm around her once more when she nearly collapsed in her grief. "Hey, shh, calm down, chances are Plegia'll surrender once they realize we ain't just gonna roll over for them, and that could be any day now. Chrom won't be gone very long at all, don't worry!"

"You don't understand, I have to go tell my sister-in-law that her husband's kind of randomly left for an actual warzone without telling her anything about it!" A huge sob coursed through Lissa's body, strong enough to nearly send her to the ground even with Vaike's support. "She's going to hate me for telling her, and hate him for not saying anything, and she's going to super hate everyone who made him go by coming back!"

"Yeah, see, I don't think that'll be the case. Chrom and Frederick, they'd discussed swappin' out for each other before, it was just a matter of when it would happen. And Stahl, he only came back 'cause I guess someone managed to contact him 'bout what's happenin' with his wife and he begged to come home." Vaike whistled, incriminating himself as that guilty party. "Can't be mad about that kinda thing, y'know?"

Lissa bit her lip, thinking about how right he was. "I guess you can't, but still, imagine how heartbroken she'll be when I tell her! Why'd you have to push this one off on me?"

"Okay, okay, don't start yellin' at me 'bout this. If ya want the Vaike's help in tellin' her, all ya had t'do was ask." She thanked him several times for the offer, after which he just stared blankly at her, as if he was waiting for something to happen. "Er, ain't we gonna go do that now? Can't keep her waitin' even longer, but that's what we're doin'."

He started heading away, nearly dragging Lissa with him, but she dug her heels into the concrete ground and made it clear she wasn't interested in following. "I'm supposed to be working right now," she reminded him, "and that means I can't just, like, walk off right now!" Her head turned to look in the shop, where Cherche stood behind the counter, idly reorganizing things within reach. "Let me at least let her know I'm leaving before I do it!"

"Sorry that the cold started gettin' to me and makin' me wanna get goin'," he apologized, coming back towards her. "Forgot all about you actually workin' right now and all that. How 'bout we both go in, you finish up your shift, and then we get on tellin' Robin what's happened with Chrom?"

"That sounds like a good idea," she said, tears welling in her eyes once more. She was well-aware that her ability to focus on her work was completely gone but she couldn't just abandon her job at the moment. It was when she was opening the door to go back inside, Vaike following right behind her, that she even realized that they'd been outside talking and crying in the snow, little flakes having attached themselves to her hair and making her exposed skin sting with cold; it was while she was going to comment on that that she completely forgot to check to make sure no one was trying to leave while they entered.

The end result was a frantic Sumia falling straight into Lissa, who then stumbled backwards into Vaike. "Oh gods, I'm so sorry!" Sumia stammered, picking herself up and covering her mouth in shock when she saw who she'd run into. "I just got so eager to get out of here to—hey wait, have you been crying, Lissa? Happy tears? Did Cordelia call you too?"

"Did she call me…? No, I just found out that my brother's gone out to war, so I've been crying over that." A pause, during which Lissa noticed how jumpy Sumia seemed to be. "What's got you so excited?"

"She might not have called you, but she certainly called me, and I've gotta get out of here to be with her!" The excitement in her voice was tangible, a stark contrast to the somber conversation Lissa and Vaike had been having outside. "She said you'd understand why I'm leaving, and that you're more than welcome to close early to come too if you want."

"Come too? Where are you even going?" Lissa raised her eyebrows at Sumia, who quickly became so overcome with her excitement that she was unable to reply right away. It ended up okay, however, because enough of a hint was given for Lissa to begin to realize the gravity of the situation at hand. "S-she's having the baby right now, isn't she?"

Sumia shook her head, barely noticeable due to the overall shaking she was doing. "Not right now, but really soon! And she wants me to for-sure be there right beside her if I can be, because—" Her phone rang, causing her to abruptly stop her explanation so she could answer it. "Oh hi Cordelia, I'm just telling Li—er, Stahl? Since when are you back?" At the sound of her manager's husband's name, Lissa gasped, while Vaike once again whistled innocently, knowing he'd been responsible for this surprising turn of events. "How is Cordelia doing? Is she in pain? Do...do I still need to come be with her?"

"Look," Lissa whispered, leaning back so Vaike could hear, "I think your kind gesture totally just threw a wrench in Sumia's plans. Way to go, huh?"

"I didn't think it would actually work and that Stahl'd get t'come home. All the Vaike thought was that he'd like knowin' that she'd gotten stuck bein' in bed, and I guess he took that as needin' to come home. Great timin' too, I s'pose, but…" He shrugged. "Didn't mean to ruin Sumia's fun with all this, if I did ruin it."

Speaking of the mousey-haired woman, she was nodding slowly at whatever it was she was hearing on the other end of the phone, cringing at times whenever something on the other side got too loud. Eventually, she did hang up, wringing her hands when she did. "Oh gods, so I guess Stahl got to come home to be there for her when she has this baby, and he's super freaked out because whoever told him that she wasn't doing okay didn't mention that she could be going into labor any time, and he started crying when she started screaming and I've got to go be there now!" She jumped where she stood, pushing past the two in front of her to get out the door. The last they heard of her was her screeching that she was on her way, although the loud thudding that followed might as well have been her falling face-first into the ground, slipping on ice as she ran.

"I'm still upset with you, even if you totally helped others out with what you did." Lissa's arms crossed over her chest, and she turned her head indignantly. "I can't believe you made it so my brother had to leave without warning, even if it did mean all this fell right into place like it did."

"Hey now, no one said it was my decision that made Chrom have'ta leave right now. In fact, if you're gonna blame anyone for that, I'd like you t'make it Frederick, since he's the one in a position of command that needed replacin'." Also crossing his arms before him, Vaike leaned his head up to where it was resting on Lissa's shoulder, so that he could talk into her ear quietly. "'Sides, you're really gonna get all upset when so many others are happy right now?"

"Talk to me about being upset after we've dealt with Robin, I dare you," she threatened, before knocking him off of her with her shoulder, shaking her head to clear her mind, and looking to Cherche with a deep breath. "Say, would you be too offended if we closed up shop early for the day, my dearest co-worker? We've already lost our baker, and I've got so many things I guess I need to get done, why don't we just call it a shortened day?"

Cherche gave it a second's thought, nodding when she'd decided. "Despite the snow, today could be a good day to run some errands, I suppose. It's not every day that I get the time to interact with others in a non-work setting while the sun's still up." They were able to close down fairly quickly, Lissa putting Vaike at the door so that he could keep people from coming in as the ladies broke everything down to reopen in the morning, and when they were done the three of them left the store in somewhat high spirits.

It wasn't until Lissa was halfway to her brother's house that those spirits came crashing right back down. "I don't know how we're going to tell Robin about this without her killing one or both of us," she admitted, turning to look away from Vaike like she seemed to have been doing quite often on their trip into Ylisstol's suburbs. "She's normally one to take news like this in stride, but with her being pregnant and with her having to keep Lucina in mind here, it's just going to be ugly."

"That's what ya keep sayin', but you've gotta stay positive about this. Robin ain't gonna be nearly as heartbroken as you're thinkin'—sure, she'll be sad and all that, but she ain't gonna be cryin' 'til Chrom gets back. She's a strong military wife, she knows what she's involved with here." Vaike, being the one in charge of getting them to Chrom's house, took a tighter grip on the steering wheel before him. "And y'know what, if she is super heartbroken and don't wanna continue on 'til he's back, we'll do somethin' 'bout it. Just like we did for all the other ladies who temporarily lost their men to the war."

"Except she lives way out here and I don't have any way to get out here regularly, unlike with Maribelle and Cordelia, who both live in town. It's so much harder to want to try and do anything for Robin, really!" Lissa buried her face in her hands, trying not to cry again. "Gods, I'm the worst at being a good family member, aren't I?"

Vaike didn't say anything for a minute, just focusing on the drive they were on, but when he did speak his voice was noticeably choked up. "You're not close to bein' worst at all, Lissa. Now ol' Vaike ain't exactly sure what havin' a good family's like, but he's pretty damn sure it means that doin' what you do is perfectly fine. So what if you can't get out here on your own? I'll make the sacrifice to drive ya out here if needed, no big deal."

"That's really sweet to hear," she said, sniffling as she spoke. "If it's needed, I'll definitely ask you first since you're so willing to offer. But before we even get to that, we really should actually tell Robin what's up, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, you'd think, but sometimes these plans come together 'fore all the pieces are there. But if she needs it and you want t'have me do it, I'll be drivin' ya everywhere you could ask, 'til Chrom's back home safe and sound." The rest of their ride was in silence, but Lissa couldn't shake those kind words from her mind, knowing that they were some of the most supportive words she'd heard in a long while. If anything was going to get her through what was about to happen, it was knowing that Vaike had her back when it came to her making sure to help out.

It turned out that Robin knew a lot more about the situation than anyone had realized she did, and while she did seem upset to find out that Chrom was gone, she admitted to knowing that it was an inevitable thing that was coming any day. "He found out a few days ago that Frederick was getting antsy to come home, being wary like he always is, and while he had no idea when the switch would take place, he knew it would be very, very soon." Robin sighed, rubbing at one of her cheeks. "I'm thankful that he'd begun to start kissing me goodbye every day when he left for work, in case it was the last time he saw me for a while."

"So you're not, like, going to cry and hold this against us, are you?" Lissa timidly asked, holding her arms out to hug Robin in case the crying did start in full-force, which it didn't, so she dropped her arms and shuffled a bit to get closer to Vaike, who was looking to her like he'd told her this was exactly what would happen. "Gods, here I was getting all worried about doing this, just for you to already know!"

"Know what?" Lucina piped up, poking her head into the room and seeing her aunt standing there. "Oh, Auntie Lissa! Why are you here? Where's Father?" Cue Lissa shuffling a bit more to hide behind Vaike, who pushed her back out into the open, now needing to face her niece with the matter. "Come on, I'm old enough to know things now! No keeping secrets from me, please!"

"Lucina, sweetie, this isn't something you want to know, but…" Robin sighed, turning to look at her daughter, who was staring between her and Lissa expectantly, waiting for one of them to say it. "Your father headed out to war today. We don't know when he'll be back, but know that he loves and misses you."

"That's what Auntie Lissa's here to say? Sheesh, Father told me that was going to happen days ago." The girl waved her hand as if the news was no big deal. "I thought she was going to say something cool, like that she was going to come live with us or something." She approached her mother and aunt, ignoring the third person standing there, and wrapped an arm around her mother. "I'm sorry Father kept leaving a secret from you, he was just worried that you wouldn't let him go if you knew when it was gonna be."

Watching what was happening, Vaike actually had to step away to keep himself from laughing at the situation, while Lissa tried her hardest to keep her composure while still standing there. "He, er, didn't want to tell me because he thought I'd make him stay? Goodness, what does your father think of me? It's not like this child," she motioned towards her stomach, which was beginning to take on the normal curvature of a pregnant woman's, "is my first go-through of all this. If Cordelia and Maribelle could handle being alone, so can I. The next time I see Chrom, whenever it might be, I'm going to scold him for that."

"Yeah, see, he was also scared you'd say something like that." Pressing her face against her mother's stomach, Lucina laughed. "He was like, 'Lucy, your mother is going to either make me stay, or be offended that I'd say that,' and he was so right. I think that's really cute how he knows you so well, Mother."

"Lucina, why don't you go back to your room and do something while your aunt and I discuss this matter further?" Robin said, her voice rather stern, and the girl dramatically sighed and did as asked, but not before hugging her aunt hello. Once her and her head of blue hair were out of sight, Robin put a hand to her head and sighed. "I cannot believe Chrom would trust her, of all people, with that news. She's mature, yes, but she's still too young to be grappling with the realities of war."

"To be fair, most 'a the guys out there ain't ready t'be grapplin' with those realities too," Vaike corrected, "but they still do it. Glad t'see that Chrom's startin' his li'l girl early on all that nonsense."

"I didn't ask you for your input." Using the hand on her head to discreetly motion for Vaike to step outside, Robin waited until he excused himself and stepped into the other room to continue to talk. "Lissa, why, of all the people in the world, did you have to bring him along for this conversation? I understand that he's the only accessible friend of Chrom's at the moment, but perhaps you could have picked someone else? Sumia, maybe?"

At the mention of her co-worker, Lissa's mind lit up with the reminder of where, exactly said co-worker was most likely at that very moment. "It's hard to ask someone to help me out when she's rushing to be at someone else's side," she answered, anxiously rubbing one foot against the back of her other leg. "I mean, I don't think she's really needed there right now, but she really wanted to be there for Cordelia, and—"

"You're kidding, she's having that baby now, of all times? Gods, please let her not be upset that her husband wasn't coming home on this command change."

"Yeah, about _that_ ," Lissa started, her eyes shifting to looking towards the doorway that Vaike had gone through, "let's just say that someone might have pulled some strings to make sure that he was here for all this."

Robin paused in thought for a moment, taking a deep breath afterwards. "You know, maybe it's for the best that you brought him along. It seems I've got many more questions to ask about this than I thought possible…"

* * *

It wasn't until the following afternoon, while standing behind the counter at work, that Lissa received the call that she'd been expecting to get since the day before. Hearing Sumia barely able to speak through happy tears as she relayed the news announcing the birth of her best friend's baby was enough to make Lissa scream in joy, startling everyone in the shop at that very moment. They didn't close up early, as Sumia said that Cordelia wasn't up for visitors at the time, but when proper closing time came and went, she was given clearance to head over and visit.

The little hospital room was rather crowded when she got there, as it really only had enough room for one guest and now there were three, but when she saw the entirely contagious excitement on everyone's faces when she got there it felt worth it. "I'm so sorry I don't have a gift right now," she apologized, motioning towards her work clothes that she hadn't had the time to change out of. "I left there and headed here as soon as I could, and I didn't want to risk missing buses and stuff because of going to change and…"

"Lissa, there's no reason to explain yourself. The only gift I asked for was your presence right now, and you've delivered it." Her red hair tied up in a messy high bun, Cordelia looked absolutely exhausted as she lay there in her bed, but her smile was large and radiant, overshadowing the rest of her appearance. "And now you get to meet my sweet daughter, after so long and so much excitement."

Nodding, Lissa came closer to where Cordelia was, noticing that there wasn't any sign of a baby in her arms or anywhere near her. "Um, how am I supposed to meet her when you don't seem to have her?"

"I've got her, no worries." The voice was one she hadn't heard in a long time, and it was a lot softer than she remembered it being, but when Lissa turned her head to see Stahl sitting in one of the chairs, a pink bundle of blankets in his arms, her heart nearly melted. "Gods, I never thought she'd be this cute, but…wow."

He got up, carefully, and approached Lissa, offering the bundle to her, and she shook her head. "Let me sit down first, it's been years since I last held a newborn and I don't want to drop her." Although she laughed as she spoke, her joke wasn't appreciated by the new parents, and she quickly moved to get past it, sitting down and letting Stahl hand over the baby to her. The first thing she noticed about this child was her sleepy little pout, the way her tiny lips were curled together as if she was already disgusted at living in the real world. "I think I see what you mean about her being cute, she's super adorable!" she exclaimed in the loudest whisper she could manage. The baby didn't appreciate it, her still-closed eyes squinting more at the sound, and she gasped at the sight. "Oh no, I didn't mean to disturb her, really!"

"Don't worry, she does that at any sound she doesn't like, which is all of them so far." Leaning in close to his child's face, Stahl turned to look up at Lissa with his eyes filled with wonder and awe. "I think she's going to be a great child, once she gets past that whole 'disliking' thing. Plus, it already seems like she's got my appetite, which is cool!"

"Stahl, every baby does that, they all want to eat and sleep and do nothing else," Cordelia corrected, her voice sounding equal parts amused and tired. "Now back away from Lissa while she's admiring our dear Severa, will you?"

He apologized, backing away, while Lissa took the opportunity to lean in a bit closer, now looking at the baby's fine hair that dusted the top of her head. "I really hope you weren't super upset when she came out without red hair," she teased, gently blowing to make the thin strands stand on end. "She'll be so cute regardless, but she'd be even better with red hair like her mommy."

"That's what I said when I saw her!" Sumia said, laughing at the coincidence. "Maybe she'll grow into that when she's older, or maybe she'll be another kid with their dad's hair."

"My hair's not…bad, is it?" Stahl asked, slowly reaching up to his head to put his fingers in his hair. "I didn't doom my baby to look bad, did I?"

"Hush, she's going to be gorgeous with your hair or if she somehow inherits mine instead. We shouldn't be dwelling on her appearance right now, we should be counting our blessings that she's here and she's perfect the way she came to us." Cordelia yawned, and the baby in Lissa's arms did the same, those curled lips only opening for a second before snapping back shut. "Now hand me my daughter, please. I would like to spend time with her again."

Still not wanting to walk around and be holding the baby, Lissa waited for Stahl to come back and take her from her arms, and he was the one to carry her back to Cordelia. "You two really got lucky here with her, I think," Lissa told them, standing up and offering the seat back to the man who'd had it when she came in. "She really is absolutely adorable, and after everything that happened to get you two here, I think that's all you could ask for."

"That, and for this war to end before Stahl possibly has to leave me and her behind." Cordelia's reply was a lot more real than Lissa had expected a tired new mother to give her, and she laughed awkwardly at it, but the fact remained that it was completely true. At that point, there would be no worse punishment for their little family than to be separated by war and fighting once more.

The same sentiment came to light again just a month later, when Lissa was at her best friend's bedside immediately after she'd given birth to her son. It was barely five minutes after the screaming baby had entered the world, after he'd been cleaned up and passed off to his mother to be held, that Maribelle made the comment, making no attempts to hide her exhaustion as she spoke. "Naga help whoever thinks it's a good idea to strip my son of his father again," she mumbled, kissing her sleeping son's forehead at the end of her sentence. "I refuse to let my precious Brady ever go without knowing where his father is."

"It's a lovely thought to have, but the reality of this world keeps anyone from being able to guarantee I'll always be around," Frederick attempted to explain, his hand gently stroking the baby's. "But for now, we're together, and that's what matters."

Sitting there as those two continued talking, Lissa could feel herself frowning even though the moment should have been a happy one. These two had just welcomed their son into the world and that was what they were focusing on, the presence of his father in his life? Shouldn't they have been gushing about how adorable and cute their baby was? She wasn't going to say anything, not at all, but it weighed on her mind off and on for the next several days that she spent there with Maribelle and the baby.

Once she was back home and back to living her regular life, her normal thoughts came crashing back to her, but on occasion, especially after she'd go visit either of the babies, Lissa would find herself thinking more on the sad reality that was this whole war situation. Men were having to put Ylisse first, family second at the moment, and that wasn't any way it really should have been—and the idea that Chrom was one of those men was tying her stomach into knots. She didn't want her brother to sacrifice being there for his baby in the name of their homeland, she wanted him home beside Robin for that moment. But him coming home, if the war hadn't ended by then, would require Frederick leaving once more, and that would shatter Maribelle's heart. It was a mess of a situation, and Lissa hoped that the resolution for everyone would come quickly.

That resolution came without fanfare, the soldiers returning home to surprise their families and loved ones one mid-April day. If it wasn't for Robin calling her that afternoon to tell her that Chrom had come back, Lissa might not have known about it until after work, and once she'd gotten that phone call her spirits were higher than they typically were. That was one less thing for her mind to dwell on, shuffled back into her memory alongside the excitement she'd felt for everyone having babies and whatnot.

The one aspect to the situation that she still kept on her mind, however, involved a certain soldier she'd continued having written correspondence with over the months. While their letters had stopped being cheesy and romantic after a time, she was still sure that she was the only person writing to Lon'qu, therefore making his responses feel that much more caring than they probably were. He called her friendly pet names in his letters, and she returned the favor, but she was certain that when he came back, if he came back, they'd go straight to being their normal selves around one another.

So when, right before close that day, a dark-haired man she hadn't seen in months came walking into the shop, she tried to act as normal as possible. "Do you want your regular order today, _sir_?" she asked, watching him visibly cringe at the name she'd chosen. "Or are you not here for anything?"

"I was here for something, Lissa, but then you pulled out a condescending name that I'd hoped you'd refrain from using and now I think I might just go." Without another word, Lon'qu turned on a heel and started back for the door, making it far enough to set the doorbell off before turning back around and coming right to the counter. "No, I am still very much here for something, but it is not an order of any kind."

He was staring her down, looking into her eyes with a gaze that felt like it missed having company like this. "Well, see, the thing about a coffee shop is that we kind of take orders and fill them," she said, straightening her back to look more presentable before him. "But I suppose I can let you be in here with no order, just because it's been so long since I last saw you and all that."

"Why are you suddenly so insistent on following rules here?" he asked, leaning in a bit closer to her. "Is it that position as temporary manager that you were telling me about? Did you allow the position to get to your head?"

"No, it's more that I'm just playing with you." She noticed his movement and matched it, resting her hands on the counter to help her get closer. "I really missed you, Lon'qu. I missed our talks and our fun and letters just didn't do the real you any justice."

"And I really missed you, my Ylissean coffee shop soulma—tell me about what I've missed in my absence, Lissa." At the part where he stopped himself, his face had begun to light up, and he leaned back away from her, turning to look elsewhere. "Tell me things you neglected to mention in the letters, if there are any."

"There aren't, but I think there might have been some things on your end." She pushed off the counter, standing tall once more. "You so almost called me your soulmate! What happened to you out there in Plegia, did you start realizing you liked me or something? I had no idea you could manage to like a woman!"

He grumbled something, his face becoming bright red, and he pretended to turn to leave again. "It was lonely out there in the barracks, no man wanting to interact with his Feroxi soldier mate, and you were my only companion, if only through letters. Thoughts began to run wild, and there might have possibly been a moment or two where I considered allowing myself to feel anything more than respect for you."

"That's not what you said in your letters," she reminded him, leaning over the counter again. "You spoke of romance blooming and jealousy that you felt because of others talking about their lovers, and you were more than 'considering' being in love with me when you wrote that stuff, I guarantee it."

When he turned to face her, he was blushing wildly, to the point that she could feel her cheeks heating up at the sight, and he took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself before he said anything. "You might be right, Lissa, but there is only one way to prove it."

"Prove it? I've got your letters at home, all together so I can look over how—" In the time she'd made her clueless attempt at decoding his "prove it", she'd stopped paying attention to how he was coming in closer and closer to her face, his eyes fluttering shut in the split second before he pressed his lips against hers to get her to stop talking.

The only sound in the shop while they kissed was the slow clapping coming from Cherche, standing idly beside Lissa there behind the counter, watching the entire exchange with moderate interest. When they broke apart, she ceased her clapping once they both knew she was there, their embarrassed laughter enough to let her know she'd ruined the moment of their first kiss.

It was a moment that had been years in the making, and it was one that they both hoped would lead to bigger and better things between them in the time to come.

* * *

 **A/N: and there you have it, the conclusion to my first coffee shop AU! c:**


End file.
